| Article ID: | iaor1995978 |
| Country: | Netherlands |
| Volume: | 51 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Start Page Number: | 317 |
| End Page Number: | 323 |
| Publication Date: | Jul 1994 |
| Journal: | Discrete Applied Mathematics |
| Authors: | Waterman Michael S., Schmitt William R. |
| Keywords: | graphs |
The total number of RNA secondary structures of a given length with a fixed number of base pairs is computed, under the assumption that all base pairs can occur. This is done by establishing a one-to-one correspondence between secondary structures and trees. A duality operator on trees is presented, which explains a symmetry in the numbers counting secondary structures.