On Some Identities of Barred Preferential Arrangements

Abstract

A preferential arrangement of a finite set is an ordered partition. Associated with each such ordered partition is a chain of subsets or blocks endowed with a linear order. The chain may be split into sections by the introduction of a vertical bar, leading to the notion of a barred preferential arrangements. In this paper we derive some combinatorial identities satisfied by the number of possible barred preferential arrangements of an $n$-element set. We illustrate with some suitable examples highlighting some important consequences of the identities.