Labeled trees, functions, and an algebraic identity (Q640448)

Summary: We give a short and direct proof of a remarkable identity that arises in the enumeration of labeled trees with respect to their indegree sequence, where all edges are oriented from the vertex with lower label towards the vertex with higher label. This solves a problem posed by \textit{H. Shin} and \textit{J. Zeng} in a recent article [J. Comb. Theory, Ser. A 118, No. 1, 115--128 (2011; Zbl 1225.05083)]. We also provide a generalization of this identity that translates to a formula for the number of rooted spanning forests with given indegree sequence.