Dissecting the Stanley partition function

Let p(n) denote the number of unrestricted partitions of n. For i=0, 2, let p_i(n) denote the number of partitions π of n such that . Here denotes the number of odd parts of the partition π and π^′ is the conjugate of π. Stanley Amer. Math. Monthly 109 (2002) 760; Adv. Appl. Math., to appear] derived an infinite product representation for the generating function of p₀(n)-p₂(n). Recently, Swisher The Andrews–Stanley partition function and p(n), preprint, submitted for publication] employed the circle method to show that

(i)

and that for sufficiently large n

(ii)

In this paper we study the even/odd dissection of the Stanley product, and show how to use it to prove (i) and (ii) with no restriction on n. Moreover, we establish the following new result:

Two proofs of this surprising inequality are given. The first one uses the Göllnitz–Gordon partition theorem. The second one is an immediate corollary of a new partition inequality, which we prove in a combinatorial manner. Our methods are elementary. We use only Jacobi's triple product identity and some naive upper bound estimates.