Alternating-sign matrices and domino tilings. I (Q1204334)

[For Part II see ibid., No. 3, 219-234 (1992).] For a family of planar regions, called Aztec diamonds, the authors discuss tilings of these regions by dominoes. They prove in two ways that the Aztec diamond of order \(n\) has exactly \(2^{n(n+1)/2}\) domino tilings. Both proofs relate to alternating sign matrices (\textit{W. H. Mills}, \textit{D. P. Robbins} and \textit{H. Rumsey} jun. [Alternating sign matrices and descending plane partitions, J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 34, 340-359 (1983; Zbl 0516.05016)]). The authors also obtain more refined enumerative information (expressed in terms of generating functions) regarding certain natural statistics of such tilings.