NAME
    catalan - Catalan number

SYNOPSIS
    catalan(n)

TYPES
    n		integer

    return	integer

DESCRIPTION
    If n >= 0, this returns the Catalan number for index n:

	catalan(n) = comb(2*n,n)/(n + 1)

    Zero is returned for negative n.

    The Catalan numbers occur in solutions of several elementary
    combinatorial problems, e.g. for n >= 1, catalan(n) is the number of
    ways of using parentheses to express a product of n + 1 letters in
    terms of binary products; it is the number of ways of dissecting a
    convex polygon with n + 2 sides into triangles by nonintersecting
    diagonals; it is the number of integer-component-incrementing paths
    from (x,y) = (0,0) to (x,y) = (n,n) for which always y <= x.

EXAMPLE
    > print catalan(2), catalan(3), catalan(4), catalan(20)
    2 5 14 6564120420

LIMITS
    none

LINK LIBRARY
    NUMBER *qcatalan(NUMBER *n)

SEE ALSO
    comb, fact, perm

## Copyright (C) 2000  Ernest Bowen
##
## Calc is open software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
## the terms of the version 2.1 of the GNU Lesser General Public License
## as published by the Free Software Foundation.
##
## Calc is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
## ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
## or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.	 See the GNU Lesser General
## Public License for more details.
##
## A copy of version 2.1 of the GNU Lesser General Public License is
## distributed with calc under the filename COPYING-LGPL.  You should have
## received a copy with calc; if not, write to Free Software Foundation, Inc.
## 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
##
## @(#) $Revision: 29.2 $
## @(#) $Id: catalan,v 29.2 2000/12/17 12:27:58 chongo Exp $
## @(#) $Source: /usr/local/src/cmd/calc/help/RCS/catalan,v $
##
## Under source code control:	2000/12/14 01:33:00
## File existed as early as:	2000
##
## Share and enjoy!  :-)	http://www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/calc/
