We give explicit
combinatorial product formulas for the maximal parabolic Kazhdan-Lusztig and
R-polynomials of the symmetric group. These formulas imply that these
polynomials are combinatorial invariants, and that the Kazhdan-Lusztig ones
are nonnegative. The combinatorial formulas are most naturally stated in
terms of Young’s lattice, and the one for the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials
depends on a new class of skew partitions which are closely related to Dyck
paths.