The part-frequency matrices of a partition

Abstract

A new combinatorial object is introduced, the part-frequency matrix sequence of a partition, whichis elementary to describe and is naturally motivated by Glaisher’s bijection. We prove results thatsuggest surprising usefulness for such a simple tool, including the existence of a related statistic thatrealizes every possible Ramanujan-type congruence for the partition function. To further exhibit itsresearch utility, we give an easy generalization of a theorem of Andrews, Dixit and Yee [1] on the mocktheta functions. Throughout, we state a number of observations and questions that can motivate anarray of investigations.