Getting results with negative thinking

MaRDI QIDQ6502421arXivFDO

Authors S. Anelli, E. Damiani, Ottavio M. D'Antona, Daniel E. Loeb

Published in arXiv

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Factorials, binomial coefficients, combinatorial functions (05A10) Exact enumeration problems, generating functions (05A15)

Abstract: Given a universe of discourse $U$, a {em multiset} can be thought of as a function $M$ from $U$ to the natural numbers $$. In this paper, we define a {em hybrid set} to be any function from the universe $U$ to the integers $$. These sets are called hybrid since they contain elements with either a positive or negative multiplicity. Our goal is to use these hybrid sets {em as if} they were multisets in order to adequately generalize certain combinatorial facts which are true classically only for nonnegative integers.

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