On the Number of Partitions with Designated Summands

Abstract

Andrews, Lewis and Lovejoy introduced the partition function PD(n) as the number of partitions of $n$ with designated summands, where we assume that among parts with equal size, exactly one is designated. They proved that PD(3n+2) is divisible by 3. We obtain a Ramanujan type identity for the generating function of PD(3n+2) which implies the congruence of Andrews, Lewis and Lovejoy. For PD(3n), Andrews, Lewis and Lovejoy showed that the generating function can be expressed as an infinite product of powers of $(1-q^{2n+1})$ times a function $F(q^2)$. We find an explicit formula for $F(q^2)$, which leads to a formula for the generating function of PD(3n). We also obtain a formula for the generating function of PD(3n+1). Our proofs rely on Chan's identity on Ramanujan's cubic continued fraction and some identities on cubic theta functions. By introducing a rank for the partitions with designed summands, we give a combinatorial interpretation of the congruence of Andrews, Lewis and Lovejoy.