Combinatorial Identities Via Phi Functions and Relatively Prime Subsets

Abstract

Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $A$ be nonempty finite set of positive integers. We say that $A$ is relatively prime if $\gcd(A) =1$ and that $A$ is relatively prime to $n$ if $\gcd(A,n)=1$. In this work we count the number of nonempty subsets of $A$ which are relatively prime and the number of nonempty subsets of $A$ which are relatively prime to $n$. Related formulas are also obtained for the number of such subsets having some fixed cardinality. This extends previous work for the cases where $A$ is an interval or a set in arithmetic progression. Applications include: a) An exact formula is obtained for the number of elements of $A$ which are co-prime to $n$; note that this number is $\phi(n)$ if $A=[1,n]$. b) Algebraic characterizations are found for a nonempty finite set of positive integers to have elements which are all pairwise co-prime and consequently a formula is given for the number of nonempty subsets of $A$ whose elements are pairwise co-prime. c) We provide combinatorial formulas involving Mertens function.