prove that $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k}rightarrow a_n=n!$












0












$begingroup$


I try to prove that:
Given $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_0 = a_1 = 1$. Prove that $a_n=n!$ for any natural $n$, by finding a combinatorics problem that fits both. any solution (combinatorial proofs)?










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ really doesn't make sense. Moreover, induction proof should work !
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 12:59












  • $begingroup$
    what doesn't make any sense? this identity is right. you can check it.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:03










  • $begingroup$
    Maybe it make sense for you, but not for me ! What does mean $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ ? is it a limit ?
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 13:11












  • $begingroup$
    if n is 0, then a_n is 1. if n is 1, then a_n is 1. if n is natural and greater than 1, it is the formula with the sum. The identity claims, that the general formula of a_n is exactly n!
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12












  • $begingroup$
    make sense now?
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12
















0












$begingroup$


I try to prove that:
Given $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_0 = a_1 = 1$. Prove that $a_n=n!$ for any natural $n$, by finding a combinatorics problem that fits both. any solution (combinatorial proofs)?










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ really doesn't make sense. Moreover, induction proof should work !
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 12:59












  • $begingroup$
    what doesn't make any sense? this identity is right. you can check it.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:03










  • $begingroup$
    Maybe it make sense for you, but not for me ! What does mean $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ ? is it a limit ?
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 13:11












  • $begingroup$
    if n is 0, then a_n is 1. if n is 1, then a_n is 1. if n is natural and greater than 1, it is the formula with the sum. The identity claims, that the general formula of a_n is exactly n!
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12












  • $begingroup$
    make sense now?
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12














0












0








0





$begingroup$


I try to prove that:
Given $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_0 = a_1 = 1$. Prove that $a_n=n!$ for any natural $n$, by finding a combinatorics problem that fits both. any solution (combinatorial proofs)?










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$




I try to prove that:
Given $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_0 = a_1 = 1$. Prove that $a_n=n!$ for any natural $n$, by finding a combinatorics problem that fits both. any solution (combinatorial proofs)?







combinatorics combinatorial-proofs






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Feb 1 at 13:29







proven

















asked Feb 1 at 12:55









provenproven

12




12












  • $begingroup$
    $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ really doesn't make sense. Moreover, induction proof should work !
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 12:59












  • $begingroup$
    what doesn't make any sense? this identity is right. you can check it.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:03










  • $begingroup$
    Maybe it make sense for you, but not for me ! What does mean $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ ? is it a limit ?
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 13:11












  • $begingroup$
    if n is 0, then a_n is 1. if n is 1, then a_n is 1. if n is natural and greater than 1, it is the formula with the sum. The identity claims, that the general formula of a_n is exactly n!
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12












  • $begingroup$
    make sense now?
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12


















  • $begingroup$
    $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ really doesn't make sense. Moreover, induction proof should work !
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 12:59












  • $begingroup$
    what doesn't make any sense? this identity is right. you can check it.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:03










  • $begingroup$
    Maybe it make sense for you, but not for me ! What does mean $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ ? is it a limit ?
    $endgroup$
    – Surb
    Feb 1 at 13:11












  • $begingroup$
    if n is 0, then a_n is 1. if n is 1, then a_n is 1. if n is natural and greater than 1, it is the formula with the sum. The identity claims, that the general formula of a_n is exactly n!
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12












  • $begingroup$
    make sense now?
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 13:12
















$begingroup$
$a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ really doesn't make sense. Moreover, induction proof should work !
$endgroup$
– Surb
Feb 1 at 12:59






$begingroup$
$a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ really doesn't make sense. Moreover, induction proof should work !
$endgroup$
– Surb
Feb 1 at 12:59














$begingroup$
what doesn't make any sense? this identity is right. you can check it.
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 13:03




$begingroup$
what doesn't make any sense? this identity is right. you can check it.
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 13:03












$begingroup$
Maybe it make sense for you, but not for me ! What does mean $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ ? is it a limit ?
$endgroup$
– Surb
Feb 1 at 13:11






$begingroup$
Maybe it make sense for you, but not for me ! What does mean $a_n=sum_{k=1}^{n}binom{n-1}{k-1}(k-1)!a_{n-k},a_1=1,a_0=1rightarrow a_n=n!$ ? is it a limit ?
$endgroup$
– Surb
Feb 1 at 13:11














$begingroup$
if n is 0, then a_n is 1. if n is 1, then a_n is 1. if n is natural and greater than 1, it is the formula with the sum. The identity claims, that the general formula of a_n is exactly n!
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 13:12






$begingroup$
if n is 0, then a_n is 1. if n is 1, then a_n is 1. if n is natural and greater than 1, it is the formula with the sum. The identity claims, that the general formula of a_n is exactly n!
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 13:12














$begingroup$
make sense now?
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 13:12




$begingroup$
make sense now?
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 13:12










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















1












$begingroup$

We'll show by induction that $a_n$ is the number of permutations of $n$ elements, and it'll follow from this that $a_n = n!$.



Base: $a_0 = a_1 = 1$ is indeed the number of permutations of 0 and 1 elements respectively.



Assume $a_t$ is the number of permutations of $t$ elements for all $t < l$. Then we'll prove that $a_l$ is the number of permutations of $l$ elements.



Assume we're permuting the numbers from 1 to $n$. First, we can choose any position for the number $1$. If 1 is in position $k$, we need choose the $k-1$ from the remaining $n-1$ numbers to come before it, and we have $(k-1)!$ ways to order them. We're left with $n-k$ numbers that we ween to place after the 1, and we can do that in $(n-k)! = a_{n-k}$ ways (by induction hypothesis). Thus, we have a total of
$$sum_{k=1}^n {n - 1 choose k - 1}(k-1)!a_{n-k}$$
ways to permute $n$ numbers. By definition, this is $a_n$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 15:51






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven What is not combinatorial about this?
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:07










  • $begingroup$
    Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 16:14






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:45












Your Answer





StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "69"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3096198%2fprove-that-a-n-sum-k-1n-binomn-1k-1k-1a-n-k-rightarrow-a-n-n%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









1












$begingroup$

We'll show by induction that $a_n$ is the number of permutations of $n$ elements, and it'll follow from this that $a_n = n!$.



Base: $a_0 = a_1 = 1$ is indeed the number of permutations of 0 and 1 elements respectively.



Assume $a_t$ is the number of permutations of $t$ elements for all $t < l$. Then we'll prove that $a_l$ is the number of permutations of $l$ elements.



Assume we're permuting the numbers from 1 to $n$. First, we can choose any position for the number $1$. If 1 is in position $k$, we need choose the $k-1$ from the remaining $n-1$ numbers to come before it, and we have $(k-1)!$ ways to order them. We're left with $n-k$ numbers that we ween to place after the 1, and we can do that in $(n-k)! = a_{n-k}$ ways (by induction hypothesis). Thus, we have a total of
$$sum_{k=1}^n {n - 1 choose k - 1}(k-1)!a_{n-k}$$
ways to permute $n$ numbers. By definition, this is $a_n$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 15:51






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven What is not combinatorial about this?
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:07










  • $begingroup$
    Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 16:14






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:45
















1












$begingroup$

We'll show by induction that $a_n$ is the number of permutations of $n$ elements, and it'll follow from this that $a_n = n!$.



Base: $a_0 = a_1 = 1$ is indeed the number of permutations of 0 and 1 elements respectively.



Assume $a_t$ is the number of permutations of $t$ elements for all $t < l$. Then we'll prove that $a_l$ is the number of permutations of $l$ elements.



Assume we're permuting the numbers from 1 to $n$. First, we can choose any position for the number $1$. If 1 is in position $k$, we need choose the $k-1$ from the remaining $n-1$ numbers to come before it, and we have $(k-1)!$ ways to order them. We're left with $n-k$ numbers that we ween to place after the 1, and we can do that in $(n-k)! = a_{n-k}$ ways (by induction hypothesis). Thus, we have a total of
$$sum_{k=1}^n {n - 1 choose k - 1}(k-1)!a_{n-k}$$
ways to permute $n$ numbers. By definition, this is $a_n$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 15:51






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven What is not combinatorial about this?
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:07










  • $begingroup$
    Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 16:14






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:45














1












1








1





$begingroup$

We'll show by induction that $a_n$ is the number of permutations of $n$ elements, and it'll follow from this that $a_n = n!$.



Base: $a_0 = a_1 = 1$ is indeed the number of permutations of 0 and 1 elements respectively.



Assume $a_t$ is the number of permutations of $t$ elements for all $t < l$. Then we'll prove that $a_l$ is the number of permutations of $l$ elements.



Assume we're permuting the numbers from 1 to $n$. First, we can choose any position for the number $1$. If 1 is in position $k$, we need choose the $k-1$ from the remaining $n-1$ numbers to come before it, and we have $(k-1)!$ ways to order them. We're left with $n-k$ numbers that we ween to place after the 1, and we can do that in $(n-k)! = a_{n-k}$ ways (by induction hypothesis). Thus, we have a total of
$$sum_{k=1}^n {n - 1 choose k - 1}(k-1)!a_{n-k}$$
ways to permute $n$ numbers. By definition, this is $a_n$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$



We'll show by induction that $a_n$ is the number of permutations of $n$ elements, and it'll follow from this that $a_n = n!$.



Base: $a_0 = a_1 = 1$ is indeed the number of permutations of 0 and 1 elements respectively.



Assume $a_t$ is the number of permutations of $t$ elements for all $t < l$. Then we'll prove that $a_l$ is the number of permutations of $l$ elements.



Assume we're permuting the numbers from 1 to $n$. First, we can choose any position for the number $1$. If 1 is in position $k$, we need choose the $k-1$ from the remaining $n-1$ numbers to come before it, and we have $(k-1)!$ ways to order them. We're left with $n-k$ numbers that we ween to place after the 1, and we can do that in $(n-k)! = a_{n-k}$ ways (by induction hypothesis). Thus, we have a total of
$$sum_{k=1}^n {n - 1 choose k - 1}(k-1)!a_{n-k}$$
ways to permute $n$ numbers. By definition, this is $a_n$.







share|cite|improve this answer












share|cite|improve this answer



share|cite|improve this answer










answered Feb 1 at 14:15









Todor MarkovTodor Markov

2,420412




2,420412












  • $begingroup$
    sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 15:51






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven What is not combinatorial about this?
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:07










  • $begingroup$
    Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 16:14






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:45


















  • $begingroup$
    sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 15:51






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven What is not combinatorial about this?
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:07










  • $begingroup$
    Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
    $endgroup$
    – proven
    Feb 1 at 16:14






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
    $endgroup$
    – Todor Markov
    Feb 1 at 16:45
















$begingroup$
sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 15:51




$begingroup$
sorry, I wish a combinatorial-proof
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 15:51




1




1




$begingroup$
@proven What is not combinatorial about this?
$endgroup$
– Todor Markov
Feb 1 at 16:07




$begingroup$
@proven What is not combinatorial about this?
$endgroup$
– Todor Markov
Feb 1 at 16:07












$begingroup$
Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 16:14




$begingroup$
Combinatorial proofs of identities use double counting and combinatorial characterizations of binomial coefficients, powers, factorials etc.
$endgroup$
– proven
Feb 1 at 16:14




1




1




$begingroup$
@proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
$endgroup$
– Todor Markov
Feb 1 at 16:45




$begingroup$
@proven This is double counting of permutations. If your issue is with induction, I don't think it's avoidable, because the sequence is recurrent. Pretty much the only way to formally prove something about it is induction (or theorems that have themselves been proved using induction).
$endgroup$
– Todor Markov
Feb 1 at 16:45


















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3096198%2fprove-that-a-n-sum-k-1n-binomn-1k-1k-1a-n-k-rightarrow-a-n-n%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

Can a sorcerer learn a 5th-level spell early by creating spell slots using the Font of Magic feature?

ts Property 'filter' does not exist on type '{}'

mat-slide-toggle shouldn't change it's state when I click cancel in confirmation window