<> Definition & Example ==================== - A **set partition of size** $n$ is a partition of the set $\mathcal{S} = \{1,\ldots,n\}$. This is a collection of non-empty pairwise disjoint subsets (**parts**) of $\mathcal{S}$ whose union is $\mathcal{S}$. In symbols, $\mathcal{P} = \{P_1,\ldots,P_k \}$ such that $$S = P_1 \sqcup P_2 \sqcup \dots \sqcup P_k, \quad P_i \cap P_j = \emptyset \text{ for all }i \neq j, \quad \emptyset \notin \mathcal{P}.$$ <> - Set partitions of size $n$ are graphically represented by drawing the numbers $1$ through $n$ around a circle and then drawing the convex hulls of the blocks. - The number of set partitions of size $n$ is $n$-th [Bell number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_numbers) $B_n$ ([A000110](http://oeis.org/A000110)). - The number of set partitions of size $n$ into $k$ blocks is the [Stirling number of the second kind](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_number_of_the_second_kind) ([A008277](https://oeis.org/A008277)). Additional information ====================== - The set partitions of size $n$ form a [poset](/Posets) by containment order. This poset is indeed a lattice which is the intersection lattice of the braid arrangement. - A set partition is said to be **non-crossing** if the graphical representation does not have any crossing blocks. In symbols, this is to say that there does not exist $P_i, P_j \in \mathcal{P}$ which contains elements $a, b \in P_i$ and $x, y \in P_j$ such that $a < x < b < y$. The number of non-crossing set partitions of size $n$ is the n-th [Catalan number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_number). References ========== - [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_a_set) <> Sage examples ============= {{{#!sagecell for n in [2,3,4]: Ps = SetPartitions(n) print n, Ps.cardinality() for P in SetPartitions(3): print P }}} Technical information for database usage ======================================== - A set partition is represented as a set of disjoint blocks, which are themselves sets. - Set partitions are graded by the size of the ground set. - The database contains all set partitions of size at most 7.