Ascending Convex Polyominoes

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Beaton, Nicholas, Rinaldi, Simone
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Beaton, Nicholas
Rinaldi, Simone
author_facet Beaton, Nicholas
Rinaldi, Simone
contents Convex polyominoes can be refined according to the number of direction changes in monotone paths connecting pairs of cells, leading to the notion of $k$-convexity. In particular, the cases $k=1$ and $k=2$ correspond to $L$-convex and $Z$-convex polyominoes, two well-studied subclasses of convex polyominoes, with intermediate families such as centered and $4$-stack polyominoes. These families exhibit remarkably different combinatorial behaviours, suggesting that geometric constraints have a strong impact on the nature of the generating function: $L$-convex and centered polyominoes possess rational generating functions and growth of order $(2+\sqrt{2})^n$ and $4^n$, respectively, while $Z$-convex, 4-stack, and convex polyominoes have algebraic functions and asymptotics of order $n4^n$, $\sqrt{n}\,4^n$, and $n4^n$ respectively. In this paper we investigate the structure of $Z$-convex polyominoes by introducing a refinement based on the NW- and NE-convexity degrees, which yields a decomposition into three disjoint subclasses $C(1,2)$, $C(2,1)$, and $C(2,2)$. To enumerate these families we introduce ascending polyominoes, admitting a simple geometric characterization, and construct a generating tree that leads to functional equations for the corresponding generating functions. By solving these equations we obtain explicit algebraic generating functions and the asymptotic growth for all the subclasses.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_26395
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ascending Convex Polyominoes
Beaton, Nicholas
Rinaldi, Simone
Combinatorics
05A15 (Primary) 05A16, 05B50 (Secondary)
Convex polyominoes can be refined according to the number of direction changes in monotone paths connecting pairs of cells, leading to the notion of $k$-convexity. In particular, the cases $k=1$ and $k=2$ correspond to $L$-convex and $Z$-convex polyominoes, two well-studied subclasses of convex polyominoes, with intermediate families such as centered and $4$-stack polyominoes. These families exhibit remarkably different combinatorial behaviours, suggesting that geometric constraints have a strong impact on the nature of the generating function: $L$-convex and centered polyominoes possess rational generating functions and growth of order $(2+\sqrt{2})^n$ and $4^n$, respectively, while $Z$-convex, 4-stack, and convex polyominoes have algebraic functions and asymptotics of order $n4^n$, $\sqrt{n}\,4^n$, and $n4^n$ respectively. In this paper we investigate the structure of $Z$-convex polyominoes by introducing a refinement based on the NW- and NE-convexity degrees, which yields a decomposition into three disjoint subclasses $C(1,2)$, $C(2,1)$, and $C(2,2)$. To enumerate these families we introduce ascending polyominoes, admitting a simple geometric characterization, and construct a generating tree that leads to functional equations for the corresponding generating functions. By solving these equations we obtain explicit algebraic generating functions and the asymptotic growth for all the subclasses.
title Ascending Convex Polyominoes
topic Combinatorics
05A15 (Primary) 05A16, 05B50 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26395