Volume 109, Issue 2 pp. 201-209
ARTICLE

On Stahl's conjectures about the region distributions of bouquets

Yichao Chen

Corresponding Author

Yichao Chen

School of Mathematics, SuZhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China

Correspondence Yichao Chen, School of Mathematics, SuZhou University of Science and Technology, 215009 Suzhou, China.

Email: [email protected]

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Zhicheng Gao

Zhicheng Gao

School of Mathematics and Statistics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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First published: 10 September 2023

Abstract

Let B n denote the graph with one vertex and n loops, and b n , k be the number of embeddings of B n with k regions in an orientable surface. Stahl conjectured that both the mode and the median of the sequence ( b n , k : k 1 , 2 ( n k ) ) are within one unit of the harmonic number H 2 n j = 1 2 n 1 j . In this paper we will confirm the conjecture about the median and disprove the conjecture about the mode. We will show that the mode of the sequence ( b n , k : k 1 , 2 ( n k ) ) belongs to the set { H 2 n 1 , H 2 n , H 2 n + 1 } , and each of these three values can be attained by infinitely many n .

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

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