English

Proof of three conjectures on congruences

Number Theory 2014-08-08 v5 Combinatorics

Abstract

In this paper we prove three conjectures on congruences involving central binomial coefficients or Lucas sequences. Let pp be an odd prime and let aa be a positive integer. We show that if p1(mod4)p\equiv 1\pmod{4} or a>1a>1 then k=034pa(1/2k)(2pa)(modp2), \sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor\frac34p^a\rfloor}\binom{-1/2}k\equiv\left(\frac{2}{p^a}\right)\pmod{p^2}, where ()(-) denotes the Jacobi symbol. This confirms a conjecture of the second author. We also confirm a conjecture of R. Tauraso by showing that k=1p1Lkk20(modp)provided  p>5,\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{L_k}{k^2}\equiv0\pmod{p}\quad {\rm provided}\ \ p>5, where the Lucas numbers L0,L1,L2,L_0,L_1,L_2,\ldots are defined by L0=2, L1=1L_0=2,\ L_1=1 and Ln+1=Ln+Ln1 (n=1,2,3,)L_{n+1}=L_n+L_{n-1}\ (n=1,2,3,\ldots). Our third theorem states that if p5p\not=5 then we can determine Fpa(pa5)F_{p^a-(\frac{p^a}5)} mod p3p^3 in the following way: k=0pa1(1)k(2kk)(pa5)(12Fpa(pa5)) (modp3),\sum_{k=0}^{p^a-1}(-1)^k\binom{2k}k\equiv\left(\frac{p^a}5\right)\left(1-2F_{p^a-(\frac{p^a}5)}\right)\ \pmod{p^3}, which appeared as a conjecture in a paper of Sun and Tauraso in 2010.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1010.2489,
  title  = {Proof of three conjectures on congruences},
  author = {Hao Pan and Zhi-Wei Sun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.2489},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

16 pages, final published version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:27:32.359Z