A descending plane partition of order is a two-dimensional array (possibly empty) of positive
integers less than or equal to
such that the left-hand edges are successively indented, rows
are nonincreasing across, columns are decreasing downwards, and the number of entries
in each row is strictly less than the first entry in that row and at least the first
entry in the next row, if there is one. Implicit in this definition are the requirements
that no "holes" are allowed in the array, all rows are flush against the
top, and the diagonal element must be filled if any element of its
row is filled. The above example shows a descending plane partition of order seven.
The sole descending plane partition of order one is the empty one , the two of order two are "2" and
, and the seven of order three are illustrated above.
In general, the number of descending plane partitions of order
is equal to the number of
-bordered alternating
sign matrices: 1, 2, 7, 42, 429, ... (OEIS A005130).