We first establish the result that the Narayana polynomials can be represented as the integrals of the Legendre polynomials. Then we represent the Catalan numbers in terms of the Narayana polynomials by three different identities. We give three different proofs for these identities, namely, two algebraic proofs and one combinatorial proof. Some applications are also given which lead to many known and new identities.
We give a counting formula for the set of rectangular increasing tableaux in terms of generalized Narayana numbers. We define small $m$-Schroder paths and give a bijection between the set of increasing rectangular tableaux and small $m$-Schroder paths, generalizing a result of Pechenik [3]. Using $K$-jeu de taquin promotion, which was defined by Thomas and Yong [10], we give a cyclic sieving phenomenon for the set of increasing hook tableaux.
Given a permutation $f$, we study the positroid Catalan number $C_f$ defined to be the torus-equivariant Euler characteristic of the associated open positroid variety. We introduce a class of repetition-free permutations and show that the corresponding positroid Catalan numbers count Dyck paths avoiding a convex subset of the rectangle. We show that any convex subset appears in this way. Conjecturally, the associated $q,t$-polynomials coincide with the generalized $q,t$-Catalan numbers that recently appeared in relation to the shuffle conjecture, flag Hilbert schemes, and Khovanov-Rozansky homology of Coxeter links.
We consider Tuenter polynomials as linear combinations of descending factorials and show that coefficients of these linear combinations are expressed via a Catalan triangle of numbers. We also describe a triangle of coefficients in terms of some polynomials.
The classical parking functions, counted by the Cayley number (n+1)^(n-1), carry a natural permutation representation of the symmetric group S_n in which the number of orbits is the nth Catalan number. In this paper, we will generalize this setup to rational parking functions indexed by a pair (a,b) of coprime positive integers. We show that these parking functions, which are counted by b^(a-1), carry a permutation representation of S_a in which the number of orbits is a rational Catalan number. We compute the Frobenius characteristic of the S_a-module of (a,b)-parking functions. Next we propose a combinatorial formula for a q-analogue of the rational Catalan numbers and relate this formula to a new combinatorial model for q-binomial coefficients. Finally, we discuss q,t-analogues of rational Catalan numbers and parking functions (generalizing the shuffle conjecture for the classical case) and present several conjectures.