Mfrhtyj

This is inspired by an answer of a question of mine:

Bijective polynomials $finmathbb Q[X_1,dots,X_n]$

There is a polynomial $f_1inmathbb Q[X_1]$ which define a bijection $f_1:mathbb Ntomathbb N$, $f_1(X_1)=X_1$.

There is a polynomial $f_2inmathbb Q[X_1,X_2]$ which define a bijection $f_2:mathbb N^2tomathbb N$,

$displaystyle f_2(X_1,X_2)=frac{(X_1+X_2)(X_1+X_2+1)}{2}+f_1(X_1)$.

And as far as I understand and have tested there is a polynomial $f_3inmathbb Q[X_1,X_2,X_3]$ which define a bijection
$f_3:mathbb N^3tomathbb N$

$displaystyle f_3(X_1,X_2,X_3)=frac{(X_1+X_2+X_3)(X_1+X_2+X_3+1)(X_1+X_2+X_3+2)}{6}+f_2(X_1,X_2)$.

This seems possible to generalize as

$displaystyle f_{n+1}(X_1,dots ,X_{n+1})=f_{n}(X_1,dots ,X_{n})+frac{1}{(n+1)!}prod_{k=1}^{n+1}Big(k-1+sum_{i=1}^{n+1}X_iBig)$.

This is a generalisation of the diagonalization in case of $n=2$ with "triangularization", "tetraederization" or higher. Now the conjecture is

$displaystyle f_n(X_1,dots,X_n)$ define a bijection $mathbb N^ntomathbb N$ for all $n>0$.

Induction seems natural but how to prove that $f_n$ is a bijection implies that $f_{n+1}$ is a bijection?

What I want are proofs, parts of proofs or counter proofs.

The diagonalization argument can indeed be generalized. Roughly, one can see all elements of $mathbb{N}$ appear in order by going through all hyperplanes $X_1+ldots+X_n = s$.

Now for the proof. Let $s=X_1+...+X_n$. Then your function $f_n$ can be written as
$$ f_n(X_1, ..., X_n) = binom{s+n-1}{n} + f_{n-1}(X_1, ldots, X_{n-1}), $$
with the conventions that $f_n(0,ldots, 0) = 0$ and $f_0 = 0$.

Claim: Fix $sin mathbb{N}$. Then $f_n$ induces a bijection
$$ Big{ (X_1, ldots, X_n)in mathbb{N}^n | s=X_1+...+X_n Big} xrightarrow{f_n} Big[ binom{s+n-1}{n}, binom{s+n}{n} -1Big], $$
where $[x,y]$ is the set of integers from $x$ to $y$, and if $s=0$, then the set on the right is $[0,0]$ by convention.

Proof of the claim. It is obviously true for $n=1$. Assume it is true for $n-1$. Let us show it is true for $n$.

For a fixed $s=X_1+...+X_n$, the value $t=X_1 + ldots + X_{n-1}$ can be anything from $0$ to $s$, depending on the value of $X_n$. Thus, by the hypothesis on $f_{n-1}$, it induces a bijection
$$ Big{ (X_1, ldots, X_n)in mathbb{N}^n | s=X_1+...+X_n Big} xrightarrow{f_{n-1}} Big[ 0, binom{s+n-1}{n-1} -1Big] $$
defined by $(X_1, ldots, X_n) mapsto f_{n-1}(X_1, ldots, X_{n-1})$.
Thus $f_n$ induces a bijection from the set on the left to the interval $Big[binom{s+n-1}{n}, binom{s+n-1}{n} + binom{s+n-1}{n-1}-1Big]$. Since $binom{s+n-1}{n} + binom{s+n-1}{n-1} = binom{s+n}{n}$, the claim is proved.

The fact that $f_n$ is a bijection from $mathbb{N}^n$ to $mathbb{N}$ then follows immediately from the claim.