The water capacity of integer compositions

Aubrey Blecher1, Charlotte Brennan1, Arnold Knopfmacher 1
1The John Knopfmacher Centre for Applicable Analysis and Number Theory, School of Mathematics, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

We introduce the notion of capacity (ability to contain water) for compositions. Initially the compositions are  defined on a finite alphabet \([k]\) and thereafter on \(\mathbb{N}\). We find a capacity generating function for all compositions, the average capacity generating function and an asymptotic expression for the average capacity as the size of the composition increases to infinity

Keywords: Compositions, generating functions, asymptotics, water capacity