We prove a generalmulti-dimensional central limit theorem for the expected number of vertices of a given degree in the family of planar maps whose vertex degrees are restricted to an arbitrary (finite or infinite) set of positive integers D. Our results rely on a classical bijection with mobiles (objects exhibiting a tree structure), combined with refined analytic tools to deal with the systems of equations on infinite variables that arise. We also discuss possible extensions to maps of higher genus and to weighted maps.

We present an average-case analysis of a variant of dual-pivot quicksort. We show that the algorithmic partitioning strategy used is optimal, that is, it minimizes the expected number of key comparisons. For the analysis, we calculate the expected number of comparisons exactly as well as asymptotically; in particular, we provide exact expressions for the linear, logarithmic and constant terms.

An essential step is the analysis of zeros of lattice paths in a certain probability model. Along the way a combinatorial identity is proved.

We study the size and the external path length of random tries and show that they are asymptotically independent in the asymmetric case but strongly dependent with small periodic fluctuations in the symmetric case. Such an unexpected behavior is in sharp contrast to the previously known results on random tries, that the size is totally positively correlated to the internal path length and that both tend to the same normal limit law. These two dependence examples provide concrete instances of bivariate normal distributions (as limit laws) whose components have correlation either zero or one or periodically oscillating. Moreover, the same type of behavior is also clarified for other classes of digital trees such as bucket digital trees and Patricia tries.

We analyse the first-order asymptotic growth of

\[ a_{n}=\int_{0}^{1}\prod_{j=1}^{n}4\sin^{2}(\pi jx)\, dx. \]

We define the notion of smooth supercritical compositional structures. Two well-known examples are compositions and graphs of given genus. The ‘parts’ of a graph are the subgraphs that are maximal trees. We show that large part sizes have asymptotically geometric distributions. This leads to asymptotically independent Poisson variables for numbers of various large parts. In many cases this leads to asymptotic formulas for the probability of being gap-free and for the expected values of the largest part sizes, number of distinct parts and number of parts of multiplicity k.

A perfect matching M in an edge-coloured complete bipartite graph Kn,n is rainbow if no pair of edges in M have the same colour. We obtain asymptotic enumeration results for the number of rainbow perfect matchings in terms of the maximum number of occurrences of each colour. We also consider two natural models of random edge-colourings of Kn,n and show that if the number of colours is at least n, then there is with high probability a rainbow perfect matching. This in particular shows that almost every square matrix of order n in which every entry appears n times has a Latin transversal.