Derivatives are essentially integer partitions (Q1579566)
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English | Derivatives are essentially integer partitions |
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Derivatives are essentially integer partitions (English)
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16 July 2001
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The author presents a new proof of Faà di Bruno's formula expressing the \(n\)th derivative of the composition of 2 functions in terms of the derivatives of each function. Instead of the usual approach of exponential generating functions, he introduces a matrix notation that simplifies derivatives and relates them to integer partitions. This enables him to generalize the formula to a composition of \(m>2\) functions. The author claims that calculating derivatives using matrix notation has much less overhead and is much faster, compared with a computer algebra system. In addition, he establishes the following curious identity: Let \(M(m,n)\) be the number of terms of the \(n\)th derivative of a composition of \(m\) functions. Then \(M(m+1, n)=\sum^n_{N=0} p(n,N)M(m,N)\), where \(p(n,k)\) denotes the number of integer partitions of \(n\) into \(k\) parts.
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Faà di Bruno's formula
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derivatives
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generating functions
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integer partitions
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matrix notation
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computer algebra system
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