A note on the characteristic rank and related numbers

Abstract: This note quantifies, via a sharp inequality, an interplay between (a) the characteristic rank of a vector bundle over a topological space X, (b) the Z/2Z-Betti numbers of X, and (c) sums of the numbers of certain partitions of integers. In a particular context, (c) is transformed into a sum of the readily calculable Betti numbers of the real Grassmann manifolds.