Combinatorics and Graph Theory · Problem 1.2.7

Fundamentals — David Guichard

Mathematics — Combinatorics · catalan-numbers

Problem

A ``legal'' sequence of parentheses is one in which the parentheses can be properly matched, like ()(())()(()). It's not hard to see that this is possible precisely when the number of left and right parentheses is the same, and every initial segment of the sequence has at least as many left parentheses as right. For example, ())…())\ldots cannot possibly be extended to a legal sequence. Show that the number of legal sequences of length 2n2n is Cn=(2nn)−(2nn+1)C_n = \binom{2n}{n} - \binom{2n}{n+1}. The numbers CnC_n are called the Catalan numbers.

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