Some statistics on generalized Motzkin paths with vertical steps

TL;DR

This paper studies generalized Motzkin paths with vertical steps, providing explicit formulas, combinatorial identities, and connections to Riordan arrays for counting and analyzing various step statistics.

Contribution

It introduces G-Motzkin paths with vertical steps and derives new enumeration formulas, identities, and generating functions using bijective, algebraic, and Lagrange inversion methods.

Findings

Explicit formulas for G-Motzkin paths counts

Combinatorial identities linked with Riordan arrays

Enumeration of step statistics using algebraic methods

Abstract

Recently, several authors have considered lattice paths with various steps, including vertical steps permitted. In this paper, we consider a kind of generalized Motzkin paths, called {\it G-Motzkin paths} for short, that is lattice paths from $(0, 0)$ to $(n, 0)$ in the first quadrant of the $XOY$-plane that consist of up steps $\mathbf{u}=(1, 1)$, down steps $\mathbf{d}=(1, -1)$, horizontal steps $\mathbf{h}=(1, 0)$ and vertical steps $\mathbf{v}=(0, -1)$. We mainly count the number of G-Motzkin paths of length $n$ with given number of $\mathbf{z}$-steps for $\mathbf{z}\in \{\mathbf{u}, \mathbf{h}, \mathbf{v}, \mathbf{d}\}$, and enumerate the statistics "number of $\mathbf{z}$-steps" at given level in G-Motzkin paths for $\mathbf{z}\in \{\mathbf{u}, \mathbf{h}, \mathbf{v}, \mathbf{d}\}$, some explicit formulas and combinatorial identities are given by bijective and algebraic methods, some enumerative results are linked with Riordan arrays according to the structure decompositions of G-Motzkin paths. We also discuss the statistics "number of $\mathbf{z}_1\mathbf{z}_2$-steps" in G-Motzkin paths for $\mathbf{z}_1, \mathbf{z}_2\in \{\mathbf{u}, \mathbf{h}, \mathbf{v}, \mathbf{d}\}$, the exact counting formulas except for $\mathbf{z}_1\mathbf{z}_2=\mathbf{dd}$ are obtained by the Lagrange inversion formula and their generating functions.