A methodology for plane tree enumeration (Q1381812)

The authors describe a method for enumerating combinatorial objects, which they call the ECO method. For combinatorial structures, depending on an integer parameter \(n\), it is sometimes possible to define what they call an operator, which associates to each object in the class corresponding to the parameter \(n\), a partition of the class of objects corresponding to the parameter \(n+1\). If this operator satisfies further requirements, one can derive functional equations for the generating functions of the combinatorial structure. Several examples of this method are investigated in the paper, pertaining to plane trees. In particular the authors obtain the generating function of plane trees enumerated according to the numbers of internal nodes, right branch's length, number of leaves, and internal path length. They also study right leafed trees and tip-augmented trees.