Catalan numbers upper bound-CSDN博客

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文章探讨了Catalan数在计算具有n个节点的二叉树数量中的应用，提供了Catalan数的公式以及一个基于中央二项式系数的简单上界。对于大型n值，使用4^n作为估算值有助于快速计算，尽管这不是最优的，但在处理组合问题中的不等式和概率界限时非常实用。

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The Catalan numbers give a direct count of the number of distinct binary trees with ( n ) nodes. The ( n )-th Catalan number, denoted as ( C_n ), is given by the formula:

$C_n = \frac{1}{n+1}\binom{2n}{n} = \frac{(2n)!}{(n+1)!n!}$

This sequence starts with $C_0 = 1 ), ( C_1 = 1 ), ( C_2 = 2 ), ( C_3 = 5 )$ , and so on.

To provide a bound on the number of binary trees with ( n ) nodes using the Catalan numbers, you can use the explicit formula above. However, for large ( n ), it’s often useful to have an upper bound that is easier to calculate. One such bound is derived from the central binomial coefficient and uses the fact that ( 4^n ) is an upper bound for ( C_n ):

$C_n = \frac{1}{n+1}\binom{2n}{n} < \frac{4^n}{n+1}$

So, for large ( n ), you can say that the number of binary trees with ( n ) nodes is less than $\frac{4^n}{n+1} )$ , and since $\frac{4^n}{n+1} < 4^n )$ for all $\geq 1 )$ , it’s common to use $4^n )$ as a simpler upper bound.

This bound is not tight, particularly for large ( n ), but it’s very useful when you need a quick estimate that is easy to compute, especially when working with inequalities and probabilistic bounds in combinatorial contexts, such as analyzing the size of structures within the ORAM framework as in your original question.