Arndt compositions: a generating functions approach

Abstract: We use generating functions to enumerate Arndt compositions, that is, integer compositions where there is a descent between every second pair of parts, starting with the first and second part, and so on. In 2013, J\"org Arndt noted that this family of compositions is counted by the Fibonacci sequence. We provide an approach that is purely based on generating functions to prove this observation. We also enumerate these compositions with respect to the number of parts and the last part. From this approach, we can generalize some recent results given by Hopkins and Tangboonduangjit in 2023. Finally, we study some possible generalizations of this counting problem.