Forest volume decompositions and Abel-Cayley-Hurwitz multinomial expansions (Q1601429)

A forest \(F\) of rooted trees may be associated with a certain product: each vertex \(i\) contributes the factor \(x^{d_i}_i\) where \(x_i\) is a formal variable associated with vertex \(i\) and \(d_i\) is the number of edges incident with vertex \(i\) and leading away from the root of the tree containing \(i\) in \(F\). A multinomial expression for the sum of the products associated with all forests \(F\) with vertex set \(S\) and root set \(R\), \(R\subseteq S\), can readily be deduced from a version of Cayley's formula or from first principles. By using this result to enumerate forests with various properties, the author develops a number of identities of the Hurwitz and Abel type. Related material appears in the author's companion paper [Random mappings, forests and subsets associated with Abel-Cayley-Hurwitz multinomial expansions, Sémin. Lothar. Comb. 46, B46h (2001; Zbl 0990.05071)].