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QBonus 4

This document discusses the stars and bars formula for distributing indistinguishable objects among parties. It defines homogeneous and symmetric polynomials and provides examples. It then poses four problems: (1) finding ways to write a number as a sum of nonnegative integers, (2) finding the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of a given degree, (3) finding the dimension of polynomials up to a given degree, and (4) showing coefficients of a polynomial with given roots are symmetric polynomials of the roots.

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Prateek Jain
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4 views

QBonus 4

This document discusses the stars and bars formula for distributing indistinguishable objects among parties. It defines homogeneous and symmetric polynomials and provides examples. It then poses four problems: (1) finding ways to write a number as a sum of nonnegative integers, (2) finding the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of a given degree, (3) finding the dimension of polynomials up to a given degree, and (4) showing coefficients of a polynomial with given roots are symmetric polynomials of the roots.

Uploaded by

Prateek Jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Spring 2022

MATH 1800: Quantum Information Theory with Applications to Cryptography

Bonus 4

Stars and bars formula


The number of ways to distribute n indistinguishable objects among k different parties is equal to
   
n+k−1 n+k−1
= .
n k−1

Proof. Let the objects be represented by stars (⋆) and the lines of separation between groups by bars (|). Thus we need k − 1
bars. The number of different distributions is the same as the number of different arrangements of n stars and k − 1 bars,
(n + k − 1)!
which is equal to .
n!(k − 1)!

⋆ ⋆ | ⋆| ⋆{z⋆⋆} |. . .| |{z}
⋆|{z} ⋆⋆
1st party 2nd party th
k party

Figure 1: Typical arrangement

Definition 1. A polynomial P(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) in n variables is called homogeneous, if all nonzero terms of P have the same
degree.
A polynomial P(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) in n variables is called symmetric, if for any interchange of the variables, one obtains
the same polynomial. In a formal language

P(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) = P(xσ(1) , xσ(2) , . . . , xσ(n) )

for any permutation σ of the indices 1, 2, . . . , n.


Example 2. The polynomials P1 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = x1 + x2 + x3 , P2 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = x1 x2 + x1 x3 + x2 x3 and P3 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) =
x1 x2 x3 are homogeneous symmetric polynomials of degrees 1, 2 and 3 in 3 variables.

1
Problem (4 pts)

(a) Let k, n ∈ Z>0 be two positive integers. Find the number of ways to write n as a sum of k nonnegative integers.
Example 3. Let n = 3, k = 2, then there are 4 ways to decompose 3 into 2 summands:

3 = 3 + 0 = 0 + 3 = 2 + 1 = 1 + 2.

(b) Find the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of degree n in k variables.

(c) Find the dimension of the space of polynomials of degree less than or equal to n in k variables.1

1 Hint: use a dummy variable xk+1 and multiply every monomial of degree s < n by xn−s
k+1 , then use (b).

2
(d) Let P(x) = (x − λ1 )(x − λ2 ) . . . (x − λn ) be a polynomial with roots λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn ∈ C. Let’s write P(x) in the
form P(x) = xn + an−1 xn−1 + . . . + a0 . Show that the coefficients a1 , a2 , . . . , an−1 are symmetric polynomials in
λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn and find these polynomials.2

2 Hint: start by working out the examples with n = 2, 3.

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