English

A short proof of the Almkvist-Meurman theorem

Number Theory 2023-10-25 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

We give a short generating function proof of the Almkvist-Meurman theorem: For integers hh and k0k\ne0, define the numbers Mn(h,k)M_n(h,k) by kx(ehx1)/(ekx1)=n=0Mn(h,k)xn/n!kx(e^{hx}-1)/(e^{kx}-1)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty M_n(h,k) x^n/n!. Equivalently, Mn(h,k)=kn(Bn(h/k)Bn)M_n(h,k) = k^n(B_n(h/k) - B_n), where Bn(u)B_n(u) is the Bernoulli polynomial. Then Mn(h,k)M_n(h,k) is an integer. The proof is related to Postnikov's functional equation for the generating function for intransitive trees.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2310.15312,
  title  = {A short proof of the Almkvist-Meurman theorem},
  author = {Ira M. Gessel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.15312},
  year   = {2023}
}