Even and odd compositions with restricted parts

Abstract

A result of Legendre asserts that the difference between the numbers of (length) even and odd partitions of $n$ into distinct parts is $0$, $1$, or $-1$; this also follows from Euler's pentagonal number theorem. We establish an analogous result for compositions and obtain some generalizations that are related to various entries in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.

8 pages