Probabilistic proofs of relations with Stirling numbers of the first kind by Dirichlet process (Q922581)

From MaRDI portal
scientific article
Language Label Description Also known as
English
Probabilistic proofs of relations with Stirling numbers of the first kind by Dirichlet process
scientific article

    Statements

    Probabilistic proofs of relations with Stirling numbers of the first kind by Dirichlet process (English)
    0 references
    0 references
    1990
    0 references
    Let s(n,k) be the Stirling numbers of the first kind. The author gives a proof, based on properties of Dirichlet processes, for the identities \(\sum^{n}_{k=1}| s(n,k)| x^ k=x(x+1)...(x+n-1)\) and \(\sum^{n}_{k=1}s(n,k)x^ k=x(x-1)...(x-n+1).\) While it is customary to use the latter equation as the definition of s(n,k), the author defines s(n,k) by its explicit formula, i.e., as \((-1)^{n+k}\) times the sum of \(n!/k_ 1!k_ 2!... k_ n! 2^{k_ 2}... n^{k_ n}\) over all integers \(k_ j\geq 0\) with \(k_ 1+2k_ 2+...+nk_ n=n\) and \(k_ 1+k_ 2+...+k_ n=k\), and then proves the mentioned identities, emphasizing the probabilistic nature of the proof.
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    identities
    0 references
    Stirling numbers of the first kind
    0 references
    Dirichlet processes
    0 references