q-Binomials and related symmetric unimodal polynomials
Abstract
The q-binomial coefficients were assumed to be unimodal as early as the 1850's, but it remained unproven until Sylvester's 1878 proof using invariant theory. In 1982, Proctor gave an "elementary" proof using linear algebra. Finally, in 1989, Kathy O'Hara provided a combinatorial proof of the unimodality of the q-binomial coefficients. Very soon thereafter, Doron Zeilberger translated the argument into an elegant recurrence. We introduce several perturbations to the recurrence to create a larger family of unimodal polynomials. We analyze how these perturbations affect the final polynomial and analyze some specific cases.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1711.11252,
title = {q-Binomials and related symmetric unimodal polynomials},
author = {Bryan Ek},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.11252},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
34 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, 6 OEIS sequences (4 new). The paper and accompanying Maple package are contained <a href="http://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~bte14/Articles/Gnk/Gnk.html">here</a>. Changes from v4 are mostly cosmetic