Let
be an integer. A path from
to
in the
plane is a chain of consecutive unit moves either to the right (move denoted by
) or upwards (move denoted by
), all the moves being made inside the half-plane
. A step in a path is the occurence of two consecutive moves of the form
. Show that the number of paths from
to
that contain exactly
steps
is
%V0
Let $n \geq 1$ be an integer. A path from $(0,0)$ to $(n,n)$ in the $xy$ plane is a chain of consecutive unit moves either to the right (move denoted by $E$) or upwards (move denoted by $N$), all the moves being made inside the half-plane $x \geq y$. A step in a path is the occurence of two consecutive moves of the form $EN$. Show that the number of paths from $(0,0)$ to $(n,n)$ that contain exactly $s$ steps $(n \geq s \geq 1)$ is
$$\frac{1}{s} \binom{n-1}{s-1} \binom{n}{s-1}.$$