# Rational Catalan Combinatorics: The Associahedron

Abstract : Each positive rational number $x>0$ can be written $\textbf{uniquely}$ as $x=a/(b-a)$ for coprime positive integers 0<$a$<$b$. We will identify $x$ with the pair $(a,b)$. In this extended abstract we use $\textit{rational Dyck paths}$ to define for each positive rational $x>0$ a simplicial complex $\mathsf{Ass} (x)=\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ called the $\textit{rational associahedron}$. It is a pure simplicial complex of dimension $a-2$, and its maximal faces are counted by the $\textit{rational Catalan number}$ $\mathsf{Cat} (x)=\mathsf{Cat}(a,b):=\frac{(a+b-1)! }{ a! b!}.$ The cases $(a,b)=(n,n+1)$ and $(a,b)=(n,kn+1)$ recover the classical associahedron and its Fuss-Catalan generalization studied by Athanasiadis-Tzanaki and Fomin-Reading. We prove that $\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ is shellable and give nice product formulas for its $h$-vector (the $\textit{rational Narayana numbers}$) and $f$-vector (the $\textit{rational Kirkman numbers}$). We define $\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ .
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Type de document :
Communication dans un congrès
Alain Goupil and Gilles Schaeffer. 25th International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2013), 2013, Paris, France. Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, DMTCS Proceedings vol. AS, 25th International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2013), pp.933-944, 2013, DMTCS Proceedings

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• HAL Id : hal-01229692, version 1

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Drew Armstrong, Brendon Rhoades, Nathan Williams. Rational Catalan Combinatorics: The Associahedron. Alain Goupil and Gilles Schaeffer. 25th International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2013), 2013, Paris, France. Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, DMTCS Proceedings vol. AS, 25th International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC 2013), pp.933-944, 2013, DMTCS Proceedings. 〈hal-01229692〉

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