English

Recurrence Relations for k-Fold Nested Power Sums

Combinatorics 2025-11-21 v1 Number Theory

Abstract

We consider the kk-nested sum of integer powers, F(n,m,k)F(n,m,k), defined as repeated partial sums of the classical Faulhaber polynomials. We provide an explicit recurrence relation relating F(n,m,k)F(n,m,k) to sums of lower power m1m-1 and higher nesting level k+1k+1. This identity is derived from a core algebraic relation on the binomial coefficients that form the kernel of the nested sum's representation. We discuss the relevance to the 2010 paper by S.~Butler and P.~Karasik, ``A Note on Nested Sums'' (JIS, Vol.~13, Article~10.4.4), which studies nested sums of powers of integers that generalize Faulhaber-type sums. We also discuss the equivalence to a related recurrence previously established in the context of hypersums of powers of integers by J.~L.~Cereceda.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.15729,
  title  = {Recurrence Relations for k-Fold Nested Power Sums},
  author = {Alexander R. Povolotsky},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.15729},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T07:45:55.533Z