Stirling numbers of the second kind count the number of ways to partition a set of n elements into k nonempty subsets. They are denoted by or . The sum
is the nth Bell number.
Using falling factorials, we can characterize the Stirling numbers of the second kind by the identity
Read more about this topic: Stirling Number
Famous quotes containing the words stirling, numbers and/or kind:
“Oh, if thy pride did not our joys control,
What world of loving wonders shouldst thou see!
For if I saw thee once transformed in me,
Then in thy bosom I would pour my soul;”
—William Alexander, Earl O Stirling (1580?–1640)
“Green grow the rushes-O
What is your one-O?”
—Unknown. Carol of the Numbers (l. 2–3)
“I was not long since in a company where I wot not who of my fraternity brought news of a kind of pills, by true account, composed of a hundred and odd several ingredients; whereat we laughed very heartily, and made ourselves good sport; for what rock so hard were able to resist the shock or withstand the force of so thick and numerous a battery?”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)