Why generating functionology?
Why generating functionology?
- Event time: 11:30am
- Event date: 4th June 2014
- Speaker: Alexander Slowman (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
- Location: Room 2511, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Generating functions are familiar from their use in finding the averages of distributions, but they can do so much more. To convince you, I can't do better than copy a short list from Herbert Wilf's excellent book 'generatingfunctionology'. Suppose you have a sequence of numbers and you want to know something about that sequence, here are some of the things you'll often be able to do with generating functions:
(a) Find an exact formula for the members of your sequence. (b) Find a recurrence formula. (c) Find averages and statistical properties of your sequence. (d) Find asymptotic formulas for your sequence. (e) Prove identities.
And even more. Guided by Wilf's book, I'll take a look at some aspects of (a), (b) and (d).
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