Class CombinatoricsUtils

Method Details

• binomialCoefficient

  public static long binomialCoefficient(int n, int k) throws NotPositiveException, NumberIsTooLargeException, MathArithmeticException

  Returns an exact representation of the Binomial Coefficient, "n choose k", the number of k-element subsets that can be selected from an n-element set.

  Preconditions:

  • 0 <= k <= n (otherwise MathIllegalArgumentException is thrown)
  • The result is small enough to fit into a long. The largest value of n for which all coefficients are < Long.MAX_VALUE is 66. If the computed value exceeds Long.MAX_VALUE a MathArithMeticException is thrown.

  Parameters:

  n - the size of the set

  k - the size of the subsets to be counted

  Returns:

  n choose k

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

  NumberIsTooLargeException - if k > n.

  MathArithmeticException - if the result is too large to be represented by a long integer.

• binomialCoefficientDouble

  public static double binomialCoefficientDouble(int n, int k) throws NotPositiveException, NumberIsTooLargeException, MathArithmeticException

  Returns a double representation of the Binomial Coefficient, "n choose k", the number of k-element subsets that can be selected from an n-element set.

  Preconditions:

  • 0 <= k <= n (otherwise IllegalArgumentException is thrown)
  • The result is small enough to fit into a double. The largest value of n for which all coefficients are less than Double.MAX_VALUE is 1029. If the computed value exceeds Double.MAX_VALUE, Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY is returned

  Parameters:

  n - the size of the set

  k - the size of the subsets to be counted

  Returns:

  n choose k

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

  NumberIsTooLargeException - if k > n.

  MathArithmeticException - if the result is too large to be represented by a long integer.

• binomialCoefficientLog

  public static double binomialCoefficientLog(int n, int k) throws NotPositiveException, NumberIsTooLargeException, MathArithmeticException

  Returns the natural log of the Binomial Coefficient, "n choose k", the number of k-element subsets that can be selected from an n-element set.

  Preconditions:

  • 0 <= k <= n (otherwise MathIllegalArgumentException is thrown)

  Parameters:

  n - the size of the set

  k - the size of the subsets to be counted

  Returns:

  n choose k

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

  NumberIsTooLargeException - if k > n.

  MathArithmeticException - if the result is too large to be represented by a long integer.

• factorial

  public static long factorial(int n) throws NotPositiveException, MathArithmeticException

  Returns n!. Shorthand for n Factorial, the product of the numbers 1,...,n.

  Preconditions:

  • n >= 0 (otherwise MathIllegalArgumentException is thrown)
  • The result is small enough to fit into a long. The largest value of n for which n! does not exceed Long.MAX_VALUE} is 20. If the computed value exceeds Long.MAX_VALUE an MathArithMeticException is thrown.

  Parameters:

  n - argument

  Returns:

  n!

  Throws:

  MathArithmeticException - if the result is too large to be represented by a long.

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

  MathArithmeticException - if n > 20: The factorial value is too large to fit in a long.

• factorialDouble

  public static double factorialDouble(int n) throws NotPositiveException

  Compute n!, the factorial of n (the product of the numbers 1 to n), as a double. The result should be small enough to fit into a double: The largest n for which n! does not exceed Double.MAX_VALUE is 170. If the computed value exceeds Double.MAX_VALUE, Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY is returned.

  Parameters:

  n - Argument.

  Returns:

  n!

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

• factorialLog

  public static double factorialLog(int n) throws NotPositiveException

  Compute the natural logarithm of the factorial of n.

  Parameters:

  n - Argument.

  Returns:

  n!

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

• stirlingS2

  public static long stirlingS2(int n, int k) throws NotPositiveException, NumberIsTooLargeException, MathArithmeticException

  Returns the Stirling number of the second kind, "S(n,k)", the number of ways of partitioning an n-element set into k non-empty subsets.

  The preconditions are 0 <= k <= n (otherwise NotPositiveException is thrown)

  Parameters:

  n - the size of the set

  k - the number of non-empty subsets

  Returns:

  S(n,k)

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if k < 0.

  NumberIsTooLargeException - if k > n.

  MathArithmeticException - if some overflow happens, typically for n exceeding 25 and k between 20 and n-2 (S(n,n-1) is handled specifically and does not overflow)

  Since:

  3.1

• combinationsIterator

  public static Iterator<int[]> combinationsIterator(int n, int k)

  Returns an iterator whose range is the k-element subsets of {0, ..., n - 1} represented as int[] arrays.

  The arrays returned by the iterator are sorted in descending order and they are visited in lexicographic order with significance from right to left. For example, combinationsIterator(4, 2) returns an Iterator that will generate the following sequence of arrays on successive calls to next():

  [0, 1], [0, 2], [1, 2], [0, 3], [1, 3], [2, 3]

  If k == 0 an Iterator containing an empty array is returned and if k == n an Iterator containing [0, ..., n -1] is returned.

  Parameters:

  n - Size of the set from which subsets are selected.

  k - Size of the subsets to be enumerated.

  Returns:

  an iterator over the k-sets in n.

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

  NumberIsTooLargeException - if k > n.

• checkBinomial

  public static void checkBinomial(int n, int k) throws NumberIsTooLargeException, NotPositiveException

  Check binomial preconditions.

  Parameters:

  n - Size of the set.

  k - Size of the subsets to be counted.

  Throws:

  NotPositiveException - if n < 0.

  NumberIsTooLargeException - if k > n.