Vacillating parking functions
| Autor: | Fang, Bruce, Harris, Pamela E., Kamau, Brian M., Wang, David |
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| Rok vydání: | 2024 |
| Předmět: | |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| Popis: | For any integers $1\leq k\leq n$, we introduce a new family of parking functions called $k$-vacillating parking functions of length $n$. The parking rule for $k$-vacillating parking functions allows a car with preference $p$ to park in the first available spot in encounters among the parking spots numbered $p$, $p-k$, and $p+k$ (in that order and if those spots exists). In this way, $k$-vacillating parking functions are a modification of Naples parking functions, which allow for backwards movement of a car, and of $\ell$-interval parking functions, which allow a car to park in its preference or up to $\ell$ spots in front of its preference. Among our results, we establish a combinatorial interpretation for the numerator of the $n$th convergent of the continued fraction of $\sqrt{2}$, as the number of non-decreasing $1$-vacillating parking functions of length~$n$. Our main result gives a product formula for the enumeration of $k$-vacillating parking functions of length $n$ based on the number of $1$-vacillating parking functions of smaller length. We conclude with some directions for further research. Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Journal of Combinatorics |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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