English

On sums of binomial coefficients modulo p^2

Number Theory 2010-06-16 v6 Combinatorics

Abstract

Let p be an odd prime and let a be a positive integer. In this paper we investigate the sum k=0pa1(hpa1k)(2kk)/mk\sum_{k=0}^{p^a-1}\binom{hp^a-1}{k}\binom{2k}{k}/m^k mod p^2, where h,m are p-adic integers with m\not=0 (mod p). For example, we show that if h\not=0 (mod p) and p^a>3 then sumk=0pa1(hpa1k)(2kk)(h/2)k=(12hpa)(1+h((4h2)p1/hp11))(modp2), sum_{k=0}^{p^a-1}\binom{hp^a-1}{k}\binom{2k}{k}(-h/2)^k =(\frac{1-2h}{p^a})(1+h((4h-2)^{p-1}/h^{p-1}-1)) (mod p^2), where (-) denotes the Jacobi symbol. Here is another remarkable congruence: If p>3 then k=0pa1(pa1k)(2kk)(1)k=3p1(pa3)(modp2).\sum_{k=0}^{p^a-1}\binom{p^a-1}{k}\binom{2k}{k}(-1)^k =3^{p-1}(\frac{p^a}3) (mod p^2).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0910.5667,
  title  = {On sums of binomial coefficients modulo p^2},
  author = {Zhi-Wei Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0910.5667},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

13 pages, polished version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T14:04:57.809Z