Stirling number explained

In mathematics, Stirling numbers arise in a variety of analytic and combinatorial problems. They are named after James Stirling, who introduced them in a purely algebraic setting in his book Methodus differentialis (1730). They were rediscovered and given a combinatorial meaning by Masanobu Saka in 1782.

Two different sets of numbers bear this name: the Stirling numbers of the first kind and the Stirling numbers of the second kind. Additionally, Lah numbers are sometimes referred to as Stirling numbers of the third kind. Each kind is detailed in its respective article, this one serving as a description of relations between them.

A common property of all three kinds is that they describe coefficients relating three different sequences of polynomials that frequently arise in combinatorics. Moreover, all three can be defined as the number of partitions of n elements into k non-empty subsets, where each subset is endowed with a certain kind of order (no order, cyclical, or linear).

Notation

See main article: Stirling numbers of the first kind and Stirling numbers of the second kind. Several different notations for Stirling numbers are in use. Ordinary (signed) Stirling numbers of the first kind are commonly denoted:

s(n,k). Unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind, which count the number of permutations of n elements with k disjoint cycles, are denoted:l [{n \atop k} r ] = c(n,k) = |s(n,k)| = ( -1 ) ^{n-k} s(n,k) Stirling numbers of the second kind, which count the number of ways to partition a set of n elements into k nonempty subsets:^[1] l \{{n \atop k} r \} = S(n,k) = S ^{(k)} _{n}

Abramowitz and Stegun use an uppercase

S and a blackletter ak S , respectively, for the first and second kinds of Stirling number. The notation of brackets and braces, in analogy to binomial coefficients, was introduced in 1935 by Jovan Karamata and promoted later by Donald Knuth, though the bracket notation conflicts with a common notation for Gaussian coefficients.^[2] The mathematical motivation for this type of notation, as well as additional Stirling number formulae, may be found on the page for Stirling numbers and exponential generating functions.

Another infrequent notation is

s _{1(n,k)} and s _{2(n,k)} .

Expansions of falling and rising factorials

Stirling numbers express coefficients in expansions of falling and rising factorials (also known as the Pochhammer symbol) as polynomials.

That is, the falling factorial, defined as

(x) _{n} = x(x -1 ) … (x - n +1 ) , is a polynomial in of degree whose expansion is(x) _{n} = \sum ^{n s(n,k) x} _{k =0} ^{k}

with (signed) Stirling numbers of the first kind as coefficients.

Note that

(x) _{0} \equiv 1 , by convention, because it is an empty product. The notations $\backslash \; x^\backslash$ for the falling factorial and $\backslash \; x^\backslash$ for the rising factorial are also often used.^[3] (Confusingly, the Pochhammer symbol that many use for falling factorials is used in special functions for rising factorials.)

Similarly, the rising factorial, defined as

x ^{(n)} = x(x +1 ) … (x + n -1 ) , is a polynomial in of degree whose expansion isx ^{(n)} = \sum ^{n l [{n} _{k =0} \atop k} r ] x ^{n ( -1 )} _{k =0} ^{n-k} s(n,k) x ^{k ,}

with unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind as coefficients.One of these expansions can be derived from the other by observing that

x ^{(n)} = ( -1 ) ^{n} ( - x) _{n} ~.

Stirling numbers of the second kind express the reverse relations:

x ^{n S(n,k) (x)} _{k}

and

x ^{n ( -1 )} _{k =0} ^{n-k} S(n,k) x ^{(k)} ~.

As change of basis coefficients

Considering the set of polynomials in the (indeterminate) variable x as a vector space,each of the three sequences

x ^{0,x} ^{1,x} ^{2,x} ^{3,...} (x) _{0,(x)} _{1,(x)} _{2,...} x ^{(0)} ,x ^{(1)} ,x ^{(2)} , ... is a basis.That is, every polynomial in x can be written as a sum a _{0} x ^{(0)} + a _{1} x ^{(1)} + ... + a _{n} x ^{(n)} for some unique coefficients a _{i} (similarly for the other two bases).The above relations then express the change of basis between them, as summarized in the following commutative diagram:

The coefficients for the two bottom changes are described by the Lah numbers below.Since coefficients in any basis are unique, one can define Stirling numbers this way, as the coefficients expressing polynomials of one basis in terms of another, that is, the unique numbers relating

x ^{n} with falling and rising factorials as above.

Falling factorials define, up to scaling, the same polynomials as binomial coefficients: $\backslash binom\; =\; (x)\_k/k!$. The changes between the standard basis

style x ^{0,} x ^{1,} x ^{2,} ... and the basis $\backslash binom,\; \backslash binom,\; \backslash binom,\; \backslash dots$ are thus described by similar formulas:x ^{n} _{k =0} l \{{n \atop k} r \} k! \binom{x}{k} and \binom{x}{n} = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} (s(n,k))/(n!) x ^{k} .

Example

Expressing a polynomial in the basis of falling factorials is useful for calculating sums of the polynomial evaluated at consecutive integers.Indeed, the sum of falling factorials with fixed k can expressed as another falling factorial (for

k\ne -1 )\sum _{0\leq} (i) _{k} = ((n) _{k+1})/(k +1)

This can be proved by induction.

For example, the sum of fourth powers of integers up to n (this time with n included), is:

\begin{align} \sum ^{n} _{i =0} i ^{4} & = \sum ^{n} _{i =0} \sum ^{4} _{k =0} l \{{ 4 \atop k} r \} (i) _{k} = \sum ^{4} _{k =0} l \{{ 4 \atop k} r \} \sum ^{n} _{i =0} (i) _{k} = \sum ^{4} _{k =0} l \{{ 4 \atop k} r \} ((n{ +)/(1 )) _{k+1} } \\[10mu]& = \biggl\ \frac2 + \biggl\ \frac3 + \biggl\ \frac4 + \biggl\ \frac5 \\[8mu]& = \frac12 (n1)_ + \frac73 (n1)_ + \frac64 (n1)_ + \frac15 (n1)_\,.\end

Here the Stirling numbers can be computed from their definition as the number of partitions of 4 elements into k non-empty unlabeled subsets.

In contrast, the sum $\backslash sum\_^n\; i^k$ in the standard basis is given by Faulhaber's formula, which in general is more complicated.

As inverse matrices

The Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds can be considered inverses of one another:

\sum ^{n} _{j = k} s(n,j) S(j,k) = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} ( -1 ) ^{n-j} l [{n \atop j} r ] l \{{j \atop k} r \} = \delta _{n,k}

and

\sum ^{n} _{j = k} S(n,j) s(j,k) = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} ( -1 ) ^{j-k} l \{{n \atop j} r \} l [{j \atop k} r ] = \delta _{n,k} ,

where

\delta _{nk} is the Kronecker delta. These two relationships may be understood to be matrix inverse relationships. That is, let s be the lower triangular matrix of Stirling numbers of the first kind, whose matrix elementss _{nk} = s(n,k). The inverse of this matrix is S, the lower triangular matrix of Stirling numbers of the second kind, whose entries are S _{nk} = S(n,k). Symbolically, this is writtens ^{-1} = S

Although s and S are infinite, so calculating a product entry involves an infinite sum, the matrix multiplications work because these matrices are lower triangular, so only a finite number of terms in the sum are nonzero.

Lah numbers

See main article: Lah numbers.

The Lah numbers

L(n,k) = {n -1 \choose k -1 } (n!)/(k!) are sometimes called Stirling numbers of the third kind.^[4] By convention, L( 0 , 0 ) =1 and L(n,k) =0 if n<k or k = 0 < n .

These numbers are coefficients expressing falling factorials in terms of rising factorials and vice versa:

x ^{(n)} = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} L(n,k) (x) _{k} and (x) _{n} = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} ( -1 ) ^{n-k} L(n,k)x ^{(k)} .

As above, this means they express the change of basis between the bases

(x) _{0,(x)} _{1,(x)} _{2, …} and x ^{(0)} ,x ^{(1)} ,x ^{(2)} , … , completing the diagram.In particular, one formula is the inverse of the other, thus:\sum ^{n} _{j = k} ( -1 ) ^{j-k} L(n,j) L(j,k) = \delta _{n,k} .

Similarly, composing the change of basis from

x ^{(n)} to x ^{n} with the change of basis from x ^{n} to (x) _{n} gives the change of basis directly from x ^{(n)} to (x) _{n} :L(n,k) = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} l [{n \atop j} r ] l \{{j \atop k} r \} ,

and similarly for other compositions. In terms of matrices, if

L denotes the matrix with entries L _{nk} = L(n,k) and L ^{-} denotes the matrix with entries L ^{-} _{nk} = ( -1 ) ^{n-k} L(n,k) , then one is the inverse of the other: L ^{-} = L ^{-1} .Composing the matrix of unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind with the matrix of Stirling numbers of the second kind gives the Lah numbers: L = |s| ⋅ S .

Enumeratively, $\backslash left\backslash ,\; \backslash left[\{n\; \backslash atop\; k\}\backslash right],\; L(n,k)$ can be defined as the number of partitions of n elements into k non-empty unlabeled subsets, where each subset is endowed with no order, a cyclic order, or a linear order, respectively. In particular, this implies the inequalities:

l \{{n \atop k} r \} \leq l [{n \atop k} r ] \leq L(n,k).

Inversion relations and the Stirling transform

For any pair of sequences,

\{f _{n\}} and \{g _{n\}} , related by a finite sum Stirling number formula given byg _{n} = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} \left\{\begin{matrix} n \ k \end{matrix} \right\} f _{k,}

for all integers

n \geq 0 , we have a corresponding inversion formula for f _{n} given byf _{n} = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} \left[\begin{matrix} n \ k \end{matrix} \right] ( -1 ) ^{n-k} g _{k.}

The lower indices could be any integer between $0$ and $n$.

These inversion relations between the two sequences translate into functional equations between the sequence exponential generating functions given by the Stirling (generating function) transform as

\widehat{G}(z) = \widehat{F}\left(e ^{z-1\right)}

and

\widehat{F}(z) = \widehat{G}\left( log ( 1+ z)\right).

For

D = d/dx , the differential operators x ^{nD} ^{n} and (xD) ^{n} are related by the following formulas for all integers n \geq 0 :^[5] \begin{align} (xD) ^{n} & = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} S(n, k) x ^{k} D ^{k} \\ x ^{n} D ^{n} & = \sum ^{n} _{k =0} s(n, k) (xD) ^{k} = (xD) _{n} = xD(xD - 1 )\ldots (xD - n + 1 ) \end{align}

Another pair of "inversion" relations involving the Stirling numbers relate the forward differences and the ordinary

n ^{th} derivatives of a function, f(x) , which is analytic for all x by the formulas^[6] (1)/(k!) (d ^{k})/(dx ^{k}) f(x) = \sum ^{inf ty} _{n = k} (s(n, k))/(n!) \Delta ^{n} f(x) (1)/(k!) \Delta ^{k} f(x) = \sum ^{inf ty} _{n = k} (S(n, k))/(n!) (d ^{n})/(dx ^{n}) f(x).

Similar properties

Table of similarities!Stirling numbers of the first kind!Stirling numbers of the second kind

\left[{n +1 \atop k}\right] = n \left[{n\atop k}\right] + \left[{n\atop k -1 }\right]	\left\{{n +1 \atop k}\right\} = k \left\{{ n \atop k }\right\} + \left\{{n\atop k -1 }\right\}
\sum ^{n} _{k =0} \left[{n\atop k}\right] = n!	\sum ^{n} _{k =0} \left\{ {n \atop k} \right\} = B _{n} , where B _{n} is the n-th Bell number
\sum ^{n} _{k =0} \left[{n\atop k}\right] x ^{k} = x ^{(n)} , where \{x ^{(n)} \} _{n\in\N} is the rising factorials	\sum ^{n} _{k =0} \left\{ {n \atop k} \right\} x ^{k} = T _{n(x)} , where \{T _{n\}} _{n\in\N} is the Touchard polynomials
\left[{n\atop 0 }\right] = \delta _{n, \left[{n\atop} n -1 }\right] = \binom{n}{ 2 }, \left[{n\atop n}\right] = 1	\left\{{n\atop 0 }\right\} = \delta _{n, \left\{{n\atop} n -1 }\right\} = \binom{n}{ 2 }, \left\{{n\atop n}\right\} = 1
\left[{n +1 \atop k +1 }\right] = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} \left[{n\atop j}\right] \binom{j}{k}	\left\{{n +1 \atop k +1 }\right\} = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} \binom{n}{j} \left\{{ j \atop k }\right\}
\left[\begin{matrix} n +1 \ k +1 \end{matrix} \right] = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} (n!)/(j!) \left[{j \atop k} \right]	\left\{{n +1 \atop k +1 }\right\} = \sum ^{n} _{j = k} (k +1 ) ^{n-j} \left\{{j \atop k}\right\}
\left[{ n + k +1 \atop n }\right] = \sum ^{k} _{j =0} (n + j) \left[{n + j \atop j}\right]	\left\{{n + k +1 \atop k}\right\} = \sum ^{k} _{j =0} j \left\{{ n + j \atop j }\right\}
\left[{n \atop l + m } \right] \binom{l + m}{l} = \sum _{k} \left[{k \atop l} \right] \left[{n - k \atop m } \right] \binom{n}{k}	\left\{{n \atop l + m } \right\} \binom{l + m}{l} = \sum _{k} \left\{{k \atop l} \right\} \left\{{n - k \atop m } \right\} \binom{n}{k}
\left[{n + k \atop n} \right] \underset{n \to inf ty}{\sim} (n ^{2k})/(2 ^{k} k!) .	\left\{{n + k \atop n}\right\} \underset{n \to inf ty}{\sim} (n ^{2k})/(2 ^{k} k!) .
\sum ^{inf ty\left[{n\atop} _{n = k} k}\right] (x ^{n})/(n!) = (( -log ( 1- x)) ^{k})/(k!) .	\sum ^{inf ty} _{n = k} \left\{ {n \atop k} \right\} (x ^{n})/(n!) = ((e ^{x-1)} ^{k})/(k!) .
\left[{n \atop k} \right] = \sum _{0 \leq i _{1} < \ldots < i _{n-k} < n} i _{1} i _{2} … i _{n-k} .	\left\{ {n \atop k} \right\} = \sum _{\begin{array} {c} c _{1} + \ldots + c _{k} = n - k\\ c _{1,} \ldots, c _{k \geq 0 \end{array} }} 1 ^{c _{1}} 2 ^{c _{2}} … k ^{c _{k}}

See the specific articles for details.

Symmetric formulae

Abramowitz and Stegun give the following symmetric formulae that relate the Stirling numbers of the first and second kind.

\left[{ n \atop k } \right] = \sum ^{2 n - k} _{j = n} ( -1 ) ^{j-k} \binom{j -1 }{k -1 } \binom{ 2 n - k}{j} \left\{{ j - k \atop j - n} \right\}

and

\left\{{n \atop k}\right\} = \sum ^{2 n - k} _{j = n} ( -1 ) ^{j-k} \binom{j -1 }{k -1 } \binom{ 2 n - k}{j} \left[{j - k \atop j - n } \right]

Stirling numbers with negative integral values

The Stirling numbers can be extended to negative integral values, but not all authors do so in the same way.^{[7] [8] [9]} Regardless of the approach taken, it is worth noting that Stirling numbers of first and second kind are connected by the relations:

l [{n \atop k} r ] = l \{{ - k \atop - n} r \} and l \{{n \atop k} r \} = l [{ - k \atop - n} r ]

when n and k are nonnegative integers. So we have the following table for

\left[{ - n \atop - k}\right] :

		−1		−2		−3		−4		−5
	−1	1	1	1	1	1
	−2	0	1	3	7	15
	−3	0	0	1	6	25
	−4	0	0	0	1	10
	−5	0	0	0	0	1

Donald Knuth defined the more general Stirling numbers by extending a recurrence relation to all integers. In this approach, $\backslash left[\{n\; \backslash atop\; k\}\backslash right]$ and $\backslash left\backslash$ are zero if n is negative and k is nonnegative, or if n is nonnegative and k is negative, and so we have, for any integers n and k,

l [{n \atop k} r ] = l \{{ - k \atop - n} r \} and l \{{n \atop k} r \} = l [{ - k \atop - n} r ].

On the other hand, for positive integers n and k, David Branson defined $\backslash left[\{-n\; \backslash atop\; -k\}\backslash right]\backslash !,$ $\backslash left\backslash \backslash !,$ $\backslash left[\{-n\; \backslash atop\; k\}\backslash right]\backslash !,$ and $\backslash left\backslash$ (but not $\backslash left[\{n\; \backslash atop\; -k\}\backslash right]$ or $\backslash left\backslash$). In this approach, one has the following extension of the recurrence relation of the Stirling numbers of the first kind:

l [{ - n \atop k} r ] = (( -1 ) ^{n+1})/(n!) \sum ^{n} _{i =1} (( -1 ) ^{i+1})/(i ^{k}) \binom ni ,

For example, $\backslash left[\{-5\; \backslash atop\; k\}\backslash right]\; =\; \backslash frac1\backslash Bigl(5-\backslash frac+\backslash frac-\backslash frac\; 5+\backslash frac\; 1\backslash Bigr).$ This leads to the following table of values of $\backslash left[\{n\; \backslash atop\; k\}\backslash right]$ for negative integral n.

	0	1	2	3	4
−1	1	1	1	1	1
−2	\tfrac{ -1 }{ 2 }	\tfrac{ -3 }{ 4 }	\tfrac{ -7 }{ 8 }	\tfrac{ -15 }{ 16 }	\tfrac{ -31 }{ 32 }
−3	\tfrac{ 1 }{ 6 }	\tfrac{ 11 }{ 36 }	\tfrac{ 85 }{ 216 }	\tfrac{ 575 }{ 1296 }	\tfrac{ 3661 }{ 7776 }
−4	\tfrac{ -1 }{ 24 }	\tfrac{ -25 }{ 288 }	\tfrac{ -415 }{ 3456 }	\tfrac{ -5845 }{ 41472 }	\tfrac{ -76111 }{ 497664 }
−5	\tfrac{ 1 }{ 120 }	\tfrac{ 137 }{ 7200 }	\tfrac{ 12019 }{ 432000 }	\tfrac{ 874853 }{ 25920000 }	\tfrac{ 58067611 }{ 1555200000 }

In this case $\backslash sum\_^\backslash left[\{-n\; \backslash atop\; -k\}\backslash right]=B\_$ where

B _{k} is a Bell number, and so one may define the negative Bell numbers by $\backslash sum\_^\backslash left[\{-n\; \backslash atop\; k\}\backslash right]=:B\_$.

For example, this produces $\backslash sum\_^\backslash left[\{-n\; \backslash atop\; 1\}\backslash right]=B\_=\backslash frac\; 1e\backslash sum\_^\backslash infty\backslash frac1=\backslash frac\; 1e\backslash int\_0^1\backslash fracdt=0.4848291\backslash dots$, generally $B\_=\backslash frac\; 1e\backslash sum\_^\backslash infty\backslash frac1$.

See also

• • • Bell polynomials Catalan number Cycles and fixed points
• Pochhammer symbol
• Polynomial sequence
• Touchard polynomials
• Stirling permutation

Further reading

• Victor. Adamchik. On Stirling Numbers and Euler Sums. https://web.archive.org/web/20041214001155/http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~adamchik/articles/stirling.pdf . 2004-12-14 . live. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics. 79. 1997. 119–130. 10.1016/s0377-0427(96)00167-7. free.
• Arthur T.. Benjamin. Gregory O.. Preston. Jennifer J.. Quinn. A Stirling Encounter with Harmonic Numbers. https://web.archive.org/web/20200910121921/https://math.hmc.edu/benjamin/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/06/A-Stirling-EnCOUNTer.pdf . 2020-09-10 . live. 2002. Mathematics Magazine. 75. 2. 95–103. 10.2307/3219141. 3219141. 10.1.1.383.722.
• Close encounters with the Stirling numbers of the second kind. https://web.archive.org/web/20150905120358/http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/upload_library/2/Boyadzhiev-2013.pdf . 2015-09-05 . live. Khristo N.. Boyadzhiev. 2012. Mathematics Magazine. 85. 4. 252–266. 10.4169/math.mag.85.4.252. 1806.09468. 115176876.
• Louis. Comtet. Valeur de s(n, k). Analyse Combinatoire, Tome Second. 51. 1970. fr. subscription.
• Book: Comtet, Louis. Advanced Combinatorics: The Art of Finite and Infinite Expansions. Reidel Publishing Company. Dordrecht-Holland/Boston-U.S.A.. 1974. 9789027703804 .
• Hsien-Kuei Hwang . Asymptotic Expansions for the Stirling Numbers of the First Kind . Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A . 71 . 2 . 343–351 . 1995 . 10.1016/0097-3165(95)90010-1. free .
  • Francis L.. Miksa. 2002617. Stirling numbers of the first kind: 27 leaves reproduced from typewritten manuscript on deposit in the UMT File. Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation: Reviews and Descriptions of Tables and Books. 10. 53. January 1956. 37–38.
• Book: Miksa, Francis L.. Milton. Abramowitz. Irene A.. Stegun. http://www.convertit.com/Go/ConvertIt/Reference/AMS55.ASP. Handbook of Mathematical Functions (with Formulas, Graphs and Mathematical Tables). U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, Applied Math.. 55. 1964. 1972. Combinatorial Analysis, Table 24.4, Stirling Numbers of the Second Kind. 835.
• Dragoslav S.. Mitrinović. Sur les nombres de Stirling de première espèce et les polynômes de Stirling. https://web.archive.org/web/20090617034106/http://pefmath2.etf.bg.ac.rs/files/23/23.pdf . 2009-06-17 . live. Publications de la Faculté d'Electrotechnique de l'Université de Belgrade, Série Mathématiques et Physique. fr. 0522-8441. 23. 1959. 1–20.
• Web site: John J.. O'Connor. Edmund F.. Robertson. James Stirling (1692 - 1770). September 1998.
• J. M. . Sixdeniers . K. A. . Penson. A. I. . Solomon . Extended Bell and Stirling Numbers From Hypergeometric Exponentiation. 2001. Journal of Integer Sequences . 4 . 01.1.4. math/0106123 . 2001JIntS...4...14S .
• Michael Z. . Spivey . Combinatorial sums and finite differences. 10.1016/j.disc.2007.03.052 . Discrete Math.. 2007 . 307 . 24 . 3130–3146. free . 10.1.1.134.8665 .
• A008275. Stirling numbers of first kind.
• A008277. Stirling numbers of 2nd kind.

Notes and References

1. Ronald L. Graham, Donald E. Knuth, Oren Patashnik (1988) Concrete Mathematics, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA., p. 244.
2. Knuth . Donald E. . 1992 . Two Notes on Notation . American Mathematical Monthly . 99 . 5 . 403–422 . 10.2307/2325085 . 2325085 . JSTOR.
3. Book: Aigner, Martin . A Course in Enumeration . limited . Springer . 2007 . 561 . Section 1.2 - Subsets and binomial coefficients . 978-3-540-39032-9.
4. Book: Sándor . Jozsef . Crstici . Borislav . Handbook of Number Theory II . . 2004 . 9781402025464 . 464.
5. Concrete Mathematics exercise 13 of section 6. Note that this formula immediately implies the first positive-order Stirling number transformation given in the main article on generating function transformations.
6. Olver. Frank. Daniel. Lozier. Ronald. Boisvert. Charles. Clark. NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions. NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions. 2010. (Section 26.8)
7. Loeb . Daniel E.. Received 3 Nov 1989. A generalization of the Stirling numbers . Discrete Mathematics . 103 . 3. 259–269 . 10.1016/0012-365X(92)90318-A. 1992 . free .
8. Web site: An extension of Stirling numbers . https://web.archive.org/web/20110827132927/http://www.fq.math.ca/Scanned/34-3/branson.pdf . 2011-08-27 . live . Branson . David . August 1994 . The Fibonacci Quarterly . Dec 6, 2017 .
9. D.E. Knuth, 1992.