
Lemma
The number of non-negative n-tuples with sum x is

Proof
A standard ``stars and bars'' argument (in Feller's terminology, e.g.,
p. 38 of [9])
gives the answer. The number of such sequences is equal to
the number of ways of arranging n-1 bars and x stars in
a row if we interpret the size of each contiguous sequence of
stars as a component of the n-tuple and the bars as separating
components.
The number of such sequences of bars and stars is the same as the
number of ways to chose n-1 locations for the bars out of a
total of x+n-1 locations, which is just the stated binomial coefficient.
