English

Divisibility by 2 of Stirling numbers of the second kind and their differences

Number Theory 2014-03-19 v3

Abstract

Let n,k,an,k,a and cc be positive integers and bb be a nonnegative integer. Let ν2(k)\nu_2(k) and s2(k)s_2(k) be the 2-adic valuation of kk and the sum of binary digits of kk, respectively. Let S(n,k)S(n,k) be the Stirling number of the second kind. It is shown that ν2(S(c2n,b2n+1+a))s2(a)1,\nu_2(S(c2^n,b2^{n+1}+a))\geq s_2(a)-1, where 0<a<2n+10<a<2^{n+1} and 2c2\nmid c. Furthermore, one gets that ν2(S(c2n,(c1)2n+a))=s2(a)1\nu_2(S(c2^{n},(c-1)2^{n}+a))=s_2(a)-1, where n2n\geq 2, 1a2n1\leq a\leq 2^n and 2c2\nmid c. Finally, it is proved that if 3k2n3\leq k\leq 2^n and kk is not a power of 2 minus 1, then ν2(S(a2n,k)S(b2n,k))=n+ν2(ab)log2k+s2(k)+δ(k),\nu_2(S(a2^{n},k)-S(b2^{n},k))=n+\nu_2(a-b)-\lceil\log_2k\rceil +s_2(k)+\delta(k), where δ(4)=2\delta(4)=2, δ(k)=1\delta(k)=1 if k>4k>4 is a power of 2, and δ(k)=0\delta(k)=0 otherwise. This confirms a conjecture of Lengyel raised in 2009 except when kk is a power of 2 minus 1.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1209.6284,
  title  = {Divisibility by 2 of Stirling numbers of the second kind and their differences},
  author = {Jianrong Zhao and Shaofang Hong and Wei Zhao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1209.6284},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

23 pages. To appear in Journal of Number Theory