The partial-fractions method for counting solutions to integral linear systems

Given $z\in C^n$ and $A\in Z^{m\times n}$, we consider the problem of evaluating the counting function $h(y;z):=\sum\{z^x : x\in Z^n; Ax=y, x\geq 0\}$. We provide an explicit expression for $h(y;z)$ as well as an algorithm with possibly numerous but very simple calculations. In addition, we exhibit finitely many fixed convex cones, explicitly and exclusively defined by $A$, such that for any $y\in Z^m$, the sum $h(y;z)$ can be obtained by a simple formula involving the evalua...

Polyhedral Omega is a new algorithm for solving linear Diophantine systems (LDS), i.e., for computing a multivariate rational function representation of the set of all non-negative integer solutions to a system of linear equations and inequalities. Polyhedral Omega combines methods from partition analysis with methods from polyhedral geometry. In particular, we combine MacMahon's iterative approach based on the Omega operator and explicit formulas for its evaluation with geom...

In this paper we give a new aggregation framework for linear Diophantine equations. In particular, we prove that an aggregated system of minimum size can be built in polynomial time. We also derive an analytic formula that gives the number of solutions of the system when it is possible to aggregate the system into one equation.

Given a finite set of vectors spanning a lattice and lying in a halfspace of a real vector space, to each vector $a$ in this vector space one can associate a polytope consisting of nonnegative linear combinations of the vectors in the set which sum up to $a$. This polytope is called the partition polytope of $a$. If $a$ is integral, this polytope contains a finite set of lattice points corresponding to nonnegative integral linear combinations. The partition polytope associate...

In this paper, we consider the counting function $E_P(y) = |P_{y} \cap Z^{n_x}|$ for a parametric polyhedron $P_{y} = \{x \in R^{n_x} \colon A x \leq b + B y\}$, where $y \in R^{n_y}$. We give a new representation of $E_P(y)$, called a \emph{piece-wise step-polynomial with periodic coefficients}, which is a generalization of piece-wise step-polynomials and integer/rational Ehrhart's quasi-polynomials. It gives the fastest way to calculate $E_P(y)$ in certain scenarios. The mo...

This paper gives an exposition of well known results on vector partition functions. The exposition is based on works of M. Brion, A. Szenes and M. Vergne and is geared toward explicit computer realizations. In particular, the paper presents two algorithms for computing the vector partition function with respect to a finite set of vectors $I$ as a quasipolynomial over a finite set of pointed polyhedral cones. We use the developed techniques to relate a result of P. Tumarkin an...

We present structural results on solutions to the Diophantine system $A{\boldsymbol y} = {\boldsymbol b}$, ${\boldsymbol y} \in \mathbb Z^t_{\ge 0}$ with the smallest number of non-zero entries. Our tools are algebraic and number theoretic in nature and include Siegel's Lemma, generating functions, and commutative algebra. These results have some interesting consequences in discrete optimization.

Suppose that $a_1(n),a_2(n),...,a_s(n),m(n)$ are integer-valued polynomials in $n$ with positive leading coefficients. This paper presents Popoviciu type formulas for the generalized restricted partition function $$p_{A(n)}(m(n)):=#\{(x_1,...,x_s)\in \mathbb{Z}^{s}: all x_j\geqslant 0, x_1a_1(n)+...+x_sa_s(n)=m(n) \}$$ when $s=2$ or 3. In either case, the formula implies that the function is an integer-valued quasi-polynomial. The main result is proved by a reciprocity law fo...

We study the number of lattice points in integer dilates of the rational polytope $P = (x_1,...,x_n) \in \R_{\geq 0}^n : \sum_{k=1}^n x_k a_k \leq 1$, where $a_1,...,a_n$ are positive integers. This polytope is closely related to the linear Diophantine problem of Frobenius: given relatively prime positive integers $a_1,...,a_n$, find the largest value of t (the Frobenius number) such that $m_1 a_1 + ... + m_n a_n = t$ has no solution in positive integers $m_1,...,m_n$. This i...

We give a new proof for a theorem of Ehrhart regarding the quasi-polynomiality of the function that counts the number of integer points in the integral dilates of a rational polytope. The proof involves a geometric bijection, inclusion-exclusion, and recurrence relations, and we also prove Ehrhart reciprocity using these methods.