Generally, a partition is a division of a whole into non-overlapping parts. Among the kinds of partitions considered in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

are *

partition of a set In mathematics, a partition of a set is a grouping of its elements into non-empty subsets, in such a way that every element is included in exactly one subset. Every equivalence relation on a set defines a partition of this set, and every part ...

or an ordered partition of a set, * partition of a graph, *

partition of an integer In number theory and combinatorics, a partition of a positive integer , also called an integer partition, is a way of writing as a sum of positive integers. Two sums that differ only in the order of their summands are considered the same part ...

, *

partition of an interval In mathematics, a partition of an interval on the real line is a finite sequence of real numbers such that :. In other terms, a partition of a compact interval is a strictly increasing sequence of numbers (belonging to the interval itself) ...

, *

partition of unity In mathematics, a partition of unity of a topological space is a set of continuous functions from to the unit interval ,1such that for every point x\in X: * there is a neighbourhood of where all but a finite number of the functions of are 0 ...

, * partition of a matrix; see

block matrix In mathematics, a block matrix or a partitioned matrix is a matrix that is '' interpreted'' as having been broken into sections called blocks or submatrices. Intuitively, a matrix interpreted as a block matrix can be visualized as the original mat ...

, and * partition of the sum of squares in

statistics Statistics (from German: '' Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, indust ...

problems, especially in the

analysis of variance Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models and their associated estimation procedures (such as the "variation" among and between groups) used to analyze the differences among means. ANOVA was developed by the statistician ...

, *

quotition and partition In arithmetic, quotition and partition are two ways of viewing fractions and division. In quotition division one asks, "how many parts are there?"; While in partition division one asks, "what is the size of each part?". For example, the expressio ...

, two ways of viewing the operation of division of integers.

Integer partitions

Composition (number theory) In mathematics, a composition of an integer ''n'' is a way of writing ''n'' as the sum of a sequence of (strictly) positive integers. Two sequences that differ in the order of their terms define different compositions of their sum, while they ...

* Ewens's sampling formula * Ferrers graph * Glaisher's theorem *

Landau's function In mathematics, Landau's function ''g''(''n''), named after Edmund Landau, is defined for every natural number ''n'' to be the largest order of an element of the symmetric group ''S'n''. Equivalently, ''g''(''n'') is the largest least common ...

Partition function (number theory) In number theory, the partition function represents the number of possible partitions of a non-negative integer . For instance, because the integer 4 has the five partitions , , , , and . No closed-form expression for the partition function is ...

* Pentagonal number theorem *

Plane partition In mathematics and especially in combinatorics, a plane partition is a two-dimensional array of nonnegative integers \pi_ (with positive integer indices ''i'' and ''j'') that is nonincreasing in both indices. This means that : \pi_ \ge \pi_ and \ ...

Quotition and partition In arithmetic, quotition and partition are two ways of viewing fractions and division. In quotition division one asks, "how many parts are there?"; While in partition division one asks, "what is the size of each part?". For example, the expressio ...

Rank of a partition In mathematics, particularly in the fields of number theory and combinatorics, the rank of a partition of a positive integer is a certain integer associated with the partition. In fact at least two different definitions of rank appear in the lit ...

Crank of a partition In number theory, the crank of a partition of an integer is a certain integer associated with the partition. The term was first introduced without a definition by Freeman Dyson in a 1944 paper published in Eureka, a journal published by the Math ...

* Solid partition *

Young tableau In mathematics, a Young tableau (; plural: tableaux) is a combinatorial object useful in representation theory and Schubert calculus. It provides a convenient way to describe the group representations of the symmetric and general linear groups a ...

Young's lattice In mathematics, Young's lattice is a lattice that is formed by all integer partitions. It is named after Alfred Young, who, in a series of papers ''On quantitative substitutional analysis,'' developed the representation theory of the symmetric ...

Set partitions

{{main, Partition of a set *

Bell number In combinatorial mathematics, the Bell numbers count the possible partitions of a set. These numbers have been studied by mathematicians since the 19th century, and their roots go back to medieval Japan. In an example of Stigler's law of eponymy ...

Bell polynomials In combinatorial mathematics, the Bell polynomials, named in honor of Eric Temple Bell, are used in the study of set partitions. They are related to Stirling and Bell numbers. They also occur in many applications, such as in the Faà di Bruno ...

** Dobinski's formula *

Cumulant In probability theory and statistics, the cumulants of a probability distribution are a set of quantities that provide an alternative to the '' moments'' of the distribution. Any two probability distributions whose moments are identical will have ...

Data clustering Cluster analysis or clustering is the task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters). It is a main task of ...

Equivalence relation In mathematics, an equivalence relation is a binary relation that is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. The equipollence relation between line segments in geometry is a common example of an equivalence relation. Each equivalence relatio ...

* Exact cover ** Knuth's Algorithm X *** Dancing Links * Exponential formula *

Faà di Bruno's formula Faà di Bruno's formula is an identity in mathematics generalizing the chain rule to higher derivatives. It is named after , although he was not the first to state or prove the formula. In 1800, more than 50 years before Faà di Bruno, the French ...

* Feshbach–Fano partitioning *

Foliation In mathematics (differential geometry), a foliation is an equivalence relation on an ''n''-manifold, the equivalence classes being connected, injectively immersed submanifolds, all of the same dimension ''p'', modeled on the decomposition of ...

Frequency partition In graph theory, a discipline within mathematics, the frequency partition of a graph (simple graph) is a partition of its vertices grouped by their degree. For example, the degree sequence of the left-hand graph below is (3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1) and i ...

Graph partition In mathematics, a graph partition is the reduction of a graph to a smaller graph by partitioning its set of nodes into mutually exclusive groups. Edges of the original graph that cross between the groups will produce edges in the partitioned grap ...

* Kernel of a function *

Lamination (topology) In topology, a branch of mathematics, a lamination is a : * "topological space partitioned into subsets" * decoration (a structure or property at a point) of a manifold in which some subset of the manifold is partitioned into sheets of some lowe ...

Matroid partitioning Matroid partitioning is a problem arising in the mathematical study of matroids and in the design and analysis of algorithms. Its goal is to partition the elements of a matroid into as few independent sets as possible. An example is the problem of ...

* Multipartition * Multiplicative partition *

Noncrossing partition In combinatorial mathematics, the topic of noncrossing partitions has assumed some importance because of (among other things) its application to the theory of free probability. The number of noncrossing partitions of a set of ''n'' elements is t ...

* Ordered partition of a set *

Partition calculus In mathematics, infinitary combinatorics, or combinatorial set theory, is an extension of ideas in combinatorics to infinite sets. Some of the things studied include continuous graphs and trees, extensions of Ramsey's theorem, and Martin's axiom ...

Partition function (quantum field theory) In quantum field theory, partition functions are generating functionals for correlation functions, making them key objects of study in the path integral formalism. They are the imaginary time versions of statistical mechanics partition functio ...

Partition function (statistical mechanics) In physics, a partition function describes the statistical properties of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium. Partition functions are functions of the thermodynamic state variables, such as the temperature and volume. Most of the aggre ...

** Derivation of the partition function *

Partition of an interval In mathematics, a partition of an interval on the real line is a finite sequence of real numbers such that :. In other terms, a partition of a compact interval is a strictly increasing sequence of numbers (belonging to the interval itself) ...

Partition of a set In mathematics, a partition of a set is a grouping of its elements into non-empty subsets, in such a way that every element is included in exactly one subset. Every equivalence relation on a set defines a partition of this set, and every part ...

** Ordered partition **

Partition refinement In the design of algorithms, partition refinement is a technique for representing a partition of a set as a data structure that allows the partition to be refined by splitting its sets into a larger number of smaller sets. In that sense it is dual t ...

Disjoint-set data structure In computer science, a disjoint-set data structure, also called a union–find data structure or merge–find set, is a data structure that stores a collection of disjoint (non-overlapping) sets. Equivalently, it stores a partition of a set ...

Partition problem In number theory and computer science, the partition problem, or number partitioning, is the task of deciding whether a given multiset ''S'' of positive integers can be partitioned into two subsets ''S''1 and ''S''2 such that the sum of the numbe ...

3-partition problem The 3-partition problem is a strongly NP-complete problem in computer science. The problem is to decide whether a given multiset of integers can be partitioned into triplets that all have the same sum. More precisely: * The input to the proble ...

* Partition topology *

Recursive partitioning Recursive partitioning is a statistical method for multivariable analysis. Recursive partitioning creates a decision tree that strives to correctly classify members of the population by splitting it into sub-populations based on several dichotomous ...

Stirling number In mathematics, Stirling numbers arise in a variety of analytic and combinatorial problems. They are named after James Stirling, who introduced them in a purely algebraic setting in his book ''Methodus differentialis'' (1730). They were rediscov ...

** Stirling transform *

Stratification (mathematics) Stratification has several usages in mathematics. In mathematical logic In mathematical logic, stratification is any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols guaranteeing that a unique formal interpretation of a logical theory exists ...

* Tverberg partition *

Twelvefold way In combinatorics, the twelvefold way is a systematic classification of 12 related enumerative problems concerning two finite sets, which include the classical problems of counting permutations, combinations, multisets, and partitions either of ...

In probability and stochastic processes

* Chinese restaurant process * Dobinski's formula * Ewens's sampling formula *

Law of total cumulance In probability theory and mathematical statistics, the law of total cumulance is a generalization to cumulants of the law of total probability, the law of total expectation, and the law of total variance. It has applications in the analysis o ...

Partition Partition topics