IJITE Vol.

03 Issue - 03 , (March 2015) ISSN: 2321 –1776

Impact Factor – 3.570

The number of Smallest parts of partitions of n

K.Hanuma Reddy A.manjusri
Department of mathematics Department of mathematics
Hindu College Hindu College
Acharya Nagarjuna University Acharya Nagarjuna University
Guntur, A.P-522002, Guntur, A.P-522002,
India. India.

Abstract:
George E Andrews derived formula for the number of smallest parts of partitions of a positive
integer n. In this paper we derived the formula efficiently by using the concepts of r  partitions of n .

Keywords: partition, r  partition , smallest parts of the partition and r  partition of positive
integer n.

Subject classification: 11P81 Elementary theory of partitions.

Introduction
We adopt the common notation on partitions as used in [1]. A partition of a positive integer n
r
is a finite nonincreasing sequence of positive integers 1 , 2 ,..., r such that 
i 1
i  n and it is denoted

by n   1 , 2 ,..., r  . The i are called the parts of the partition. Throughout this paper  stands for a
partition of n ,    1 , 2 ,..., r  , 1  2  ...  r .

Let   n  denote the set of all partitions of n and p  n  the cardinality of   n  for n  N and
p  0  1 . If 1  r  n write pr  n  for the number of partitions of n each consisting of exactly r parts,
i.e r  partitions of n. If r  0 or r  n we write pr  n   0 . Let p  k , n  represent the number of
partitions of n using natural numbers at least as large as k only.

Let spt  n  denote the number of smallest parts including repetitions in all partitions of n . Let us
adopt the following notation. ms     number of smallest parts of .

A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in IT and Engineering
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id – [email protected]
Page 252
 IJITE Vol.03 Issue - 03 , (March 2015) ISSN: 2321 –1776
Impact Factor – 3.570
spt  n  = 
  n 
ms   

1.1 Existing generating functions are given below.

Function Generating function

qr
pr  n 
 q r
qr k
pr  n  k 
 q r

qn
number of divisors 
n 1 1  q 
n


n.q n
sum of divisors 
n 1 1  q 
n
(1.1.1)

 
k
where  q k   1  q n for k  o,  q k  1 for k  o and  q k  0 for k  o.
n 1

Since  a n   a; q n  1  a 1  aq  1  aq 2  ... 1  aq n 1  [1]

 
1.2 Theorem: spt  n    p  k , n  tk   d  n 
k 1 t 1
(1.2.1)


Proof : [2] Let n  (1 , 2 , ... , r ) = 11 , 2 2 ,..., l 1l 1 , k l  be any r  partition of n with l distinct
parts.
Case 1: [3] Let r  l  t that means r t  k
 

Subtract all k ' s , we get n  tk  1 1 , 2 2 ,..., l 1
l 1

 

Hence n  tk  1 1 , 2 2 ,..., l 1
l 1
 is a  r  t   partition of n  tk with l - 1 distinct parts and each
part greater than k  1 . For corresponding to it they are  r  t   partitions of n  tk . Now we get, the

number pr t  k  1, n  tk  of r  partitions of n with exactly t smallest elements as k.

Case 2: Let r  l  t that means r t  k

A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in IT and Engineering
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id – [email protected]
Page 253
 IJITE Vol.03 Issue - 03 , (March 2015) ISSN: 2321 –1776
Impact Factor – 3.570
 

Omit k ' s from last t places, we get n  tk  1 1 , 2 2 ,..., l 1
l 1
, k  l t 



Hence n  tk  1 1 , 2 2 ,..., l 1
l 1

, k l t is a  r  t   partition of n  tk with l distinct parts and

the least part is k . For corresponding to it there are r  partitions of n  tk with least part k .

Now we get the number f r t  k , n  tk  of r  partitions of n with more than t smallest

elements as k.

Case 3: Let r  l  t that means all parts in the partition are equal. For each r  partition with equal

parts have r  partitions of n.

From cases (1), (2) and (3) we get r  partitions of n with t smallest parts as k is

f r t  k , n  tk   pr t  k  1, n  tk   

where   1 if r | n and   0 otherwise

 f r t  k , n  tk   pr t  k  1, n  tk   

 pr t  k , n  tk   

The number of partitions of n with equal parts is equal to the number of divisors of n. Since the number

of divisors of n is d  n  . Then the number of partitions of n with all parts are equal is d  n  .

From [5], the number of smallest parts in partitions of n is

 
spt  n    p  k , n  tk   d  n 
k 1 t 1

1.3 Theorem: pr  k  1, n   pr  n  kr  (1.3.1)

Proof : Let n  (1 , 2 , ... , r ), i  ki be any r  partition of n .

Subtracting each part by k , we get n  kr   1  k , 2  k ,..., r  k 

Hence n  kr   1  k , 2  k ,..., r  k  is a r  partition of n  kr .

Therefore the number of r  partitions of n with parts greater than or equal to k  1 is pr  n  kr 

 
1 qn
1.4 Theorem:  spt  n  qn 
n 0  q  
n 1 1  q 
n
 q n1

Proof: From theorem (1.2.1), we have

A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in IT and Engineering
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id – [email protected]
Page 254
 IJITE Vol.03 Issue - 03 , (March 2015) ISSN: 2321 –1776
Impact Factor – 3.570
 
spt  n    p  k , n  tk   d  n 
r 1 t 1

Replace k  1 by k , n by n  tk in (1.3.1)

  
  pr  n  tk  r  k  1  d  n 
t 1 r 1 n 1

Where d  n  is the number of positive divisors of n .

From (1.1.1)
 
q r tk  r  k 1  q k

  
k 1 t 1 r 1  q r k 1 1  q
k

  
qtk rk  q k
  
r 1  q r k 1 1  q
k
k 1 t 1

    q k r  
 k
  q   tk  q
k 1 t 1  r 1  q r  k 1 1  q k
 

 qk    
r
 
q k    1   q
k
 1 
k 1 1  q   r 1  q  r   r 1 1  q k
k

  

  qk  
r
 
qk 
 1  
k 1 1  q   r 1  q  r 
k
 

qk 
 1 
   r k 
from [1]
k 1 1  q  r 0  1  q q 
k


qk 
 1 
 k  r k 
k 1 1  q  r 0  1  q 

1 qk

 q  
k 1 1  q 
k
 q k 1


1 qn

 q  
n 1 1  q 
n
 q n1

A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in IT and Engineering
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id – [email protected]
Page 255
 IJITE Vol.03 Issue - 03 , (March 2015) ISSN: 2321 –1776
Impact Factor – 3.570

1.5 Corollary: The generating function for the number Ac  n  of smallest parts of the partitions of n
which are multiples of c is
 
1 qcn
 Ac  n  qn 
n 0  q  
n 1 1  q 
cn
 q cn1

1.6 Corollary: The generating function for the sum of smallest parts of the second partitions of n is
 
1 nq n
 sum spt  n  qn 
n 0  q  
n 1 1  q 
n
 q n1

Proof: The generating function for the sum of smallest parts of the second partitions of a positive

integer n is
 
spt  n    k p  k , n  tk   d  n 
r 1 t 1

 
  
  k p r n  tk  r  k  1 d  n 
t 1 r 1 n 1

where d  n  is the number of positive divisors of n .

From (1.1.1)
  
kq r tk  r  k 1 
kq k
  
k 1 t 1 r 1  q r k 1 1  q
k

 
kqtk  rk  kq k

  
r 1  q  r k 1 1  q
k
k 1 t 1

    q k r   k
  kq   tk    kq
k 1 t 1  r 1  q r  k 1 1  q k
 

 qk    
r
 
kq k    1   kq
k
 1 
k 1 1  q   r 1  q  r   r 1 1  q k
k

  

kq k   1 
 k  r k 
k 1 1  q  r 0  1  q q 


kq k   1 
 k  r k 
k 1 1  q  r 0  1  q 
A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in IT and Engineering
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id – [email protected]
Page 256
 IJITE Vol.03 Issue - 03 , (March 2015) ISSN: 2321 –1776
Impact Factor – 3.570
 k
1 kq

 q   1  q   q 
k 1
k k 1


1 nq n

 q  
n 1 1  q 
n
 q n1


1  nq n

n 0
sum spt  n  q 
 q  
n

n 1 1  q 
n
 q n1

Acknowledgments

The author is thankful to Prof. (Retd) I.Ramabhadra Sarma for his constant encouragement and

suggestions.

References

[1] Andrews, G. E. (1998), The Theory of Partitions, Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge. MR 99c:11126.

[2] HanumaReddy.K. (2009), A Note on r – partitions of n in which the least part is k, International
Journal of Computational Mathematical Ideas, 2,1,pp. 6-12.

[3] HanumaReddy.K. (2010), A Note on partitions , International Journal of Mathematical Sciences, 9, 3-

4, pp. 313-322.

[4] HanumaReddy.K. (2011), Thesis, A Note on r – partitions, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra
Pradesh, India.

[5] RamabhadraSarma.I, HanumaReddy.K, S.RaoGunakala and D.M.G.Comissiong, (2011), Relation

between Smallest and Greatest Parts of the Partitions of n ,Journal ofMathematics Research,3,4, pp.
133-140.

A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
International Journal in IT and Engineering
http://www.ijmr.net.in email id – [email protected]
Page 257