English

A determinantal formula for the hyper-sums of powers of integers

Number Theory 2022-08-05 v3

Abstract

For non-negative integers rr and mm, let Sm(r)(n)S_m^{(r)}(n) denote the rr-fold summation (or hyper-sum) over the first nn positive integers to the mmth powers, with the initial condition Sm(0)(n)=nmS_m^{(0)}(n) =n^m. In this paper, we derive a new determinantal formula for Sm(r)(n)S_m^{(r)}(n). Specifically, we show that, for all integers r0r\geq 0 and m1m \geq 1, Sm(r)(n)S_m^{(r)}(n) is proportional to S1(r)(n)S_1^{(r)}(n) times the determinant of a lower Hessenberg matrix of order m1m-1 involving the Bernoulli numbers and the variable Nr=n+r2N_r = n + \frac{r}{2}. Furthermore, whenever r1r\geq 1, evaluating this determinant gives us Sm(r)(n)S_m^{(r)}(n) as S1(r)(n)S_1^{(r)}(n) times an even or odd polynomial in NrN_r of degree m1m-1, depending on whether mm is odd or even.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2207.14188,
  title  = {A determinantal formula for the hyper-sums of powers of integers},
  author = {José L. Cereceda},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.14188},
  year   = {2022}
}

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13 pages