Take the 2-minute tour ×

I have a problem in which I need to solve for a number of sequences using exponential generating functions. I understand how finding the coefficients of ordinary generating functions work, however, I cannot seem to wrap my head around how to find the coefficients using exponential generating functions.

I was given the following problem to solve:

How many 10-letter words are there in which each of the letters e, n, r, s occur at most once?

I produced the following generationg function.

$$(x^0+x^1)^4 (x^0 + x^1 + x^2/2! + x^3/3! + \cdots)^{26-4}$$

which simplifies to

$$(1+x)^4 e^{22x}$$

However now I am completely lost on how to solve for the coefficients. Could somebody explain to me how to do this? Thanks

share|improve this question
add comment

1 Answer

The coefficients are given by $$\left [\frac{x^n}{n!} \right] (1+x)^4e^{22x} = \sum_{k=0}^{\min\{ 4, n\}} \binom{4}{k}\frac{n!}{n-k!}22^{n-k}.$$ To calculate the coefficients of a product of formal power series $$\left( \sum_{n=0}^\infty a_nx^n \right) \cdot \left(\sum_{n=0}^\infty b_nx^n \right) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty c_nx^n$$ in general, you have to simply form the Cauchy product of the coefficients, that is $$c_n = \sum_{k=0}^n a_kb_{n-k}.$$

share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer


