Problem

Source: ELMO 2014 Shortlist C5, by Sammy Luo

Tags: function, combinatorics proposed, combinatorics



Let $n$ be a positive integer. For any $k$, denote by $a_k$ the number of permutations of $\{1,2,\dots,n\}$ with exactly $k$ disjoint cycles. (For example, if $n=3$ then $a_2=3$ since $(1)(23)$, $(2)(31)$, $(3)(12)$ are the only such permutations.) Evaluate \[ a_n n^n + a_{n-1} n^{n-1} + \dots + a_1 n. \]Proposed by Sammy Luo