Delannoy Numbers and Preferential Arrangements

Abstract

A preferential arrangement on [ [ n ] ] = { 1 , 2 , … , n } is a ranking of the elements of [ [ n ] ] where ties are allowed. The number of preferential arrangements on [ [ n ] ] is denoted by r n . The Delannoy number D ( m , n ) is the number of lattice paths from ( 0 , 0 ) to ( m , n ) in which only east ( 1 , 0 ) , north ( 0 , 1 ) , and northeast ( 1 , 1 ) steps are allowed. We establish a symmetric identity among the numbers r n and D ( p , q ) by means of algebraic and combinatorial methods.