English

A combinatorial proof of Jacobi's elliptic identity via alternating permutations

Combinatorics 2026-02-17 v1

Abstract

We provide a unified combinatorial framework connecting Entringer numbers, Dumont-Viennot snakes, and elliptically weighted continued fractions, which gives a structural interpretation of the Jacobi elliptic identity \begin{equation} \mathrm{sn}'(u)=\mathrm{cn}(u)\,\mathrm{dn}(u), \end{equation} where sn\mathrm{sn}, cn\mathrm{cn} and dn\mathrm{dn} are the Jacobi elliptic functions. This framework allows the decomposition of weighted snakes corresponding to the derivative of sn\mathrm{sn} into canonical cn\mathrm{cn}- and dn\mathrm{dn}-components, bridging classical combinatorics and elliptic function theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.14568,
  title  = {A combinatorial proof of Jacobi's elliptic identity via alternating permutations},
  author = {Jean-christophe Pain},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.14568},
  year   = {2026}
}