Abstract:

We give a bijective proof that the following two sets are equinumerous: (i) the set of words over {-1, 0, 1} of length m-2 which have every initial sum nonnegative, and (ii) the set of partitions of {1, 2 , ..., m} such that no two consecutive numbers lie in the same block and for no four numbers the middle two are in one block and the end two are in another block. The words were considered by Gouyou-Beauchamps and Viennot who enumerated by means of them certain animals. The identity connecting (i)  and (ii) was observed by Klazar who proved it by generating functions.