Counting rises, levels, and drops in compositions

Abstract

A composition of $n\in\NN$ is an ordered collection of one or more positive integers whose sum is $n$. The number of summands is called the number of parts of the composition. A palindromic composition of $n$ is a composition of $n$ in which the summands are the same in the given or in reverse order. In this paper we study the generating function for the number of compositions (respectively palindromic compositions) of $n$ with $m$ parts in a given set $A\subseteq\NN$ with respect to the number of rises, levels, and drops. As a consequence, we derive all the previously known results for this kind of problem, as well as many new results.

22 pages