English

Two exercises of Comtet and two identities of Ruehr

Number Theory 2017-07-19 v1

Abstract

A question proposed by Kimura and proved by Ruehr, Kimura and others in 1980 states that for any function ff continuous on [12,32][-\frac{1}{2}, \frac{3}{2}] one has 1/23/2f(3x22x3)dx=201f(3x22x3)dx. \int_{-1/2}^{3/2} f(3x^2 - 2x^3) dx = 2 \int_0^1 f(3x^2 - 2x^3) dx. In his proof Ruehr indicates, without giving an explicit proof, that this identity, applied to f(t)=tnf(t) = t^n, implies two identities involving binomial sums, namely (after correction of a misprint) 0jn3j(3nj2n)=0j2n(3)j(3njn)  \mboxand  0jn2j(3n+1nj)=0j2n(4)j(3n+1n+1+j). \sum_{0 \leq j \leq n} 3^j {3n-j \choose 2n} = \sum_{0 \leq j \leq 2n} (-3)^j {3n-j \choose n} \ \ \mbox{and} \ \ \sum_{0 \leq j \leq n} 2^j {3n+1 \choose n-j} = \sum_{0 \leq j \leq 2n} (-4)^j {3n+1 \choose n+1+j}. Using two identities given in a book of Comtet we provide an easy explicit way of deducing these identities from the above equality between integrals. Our derivation shows a link with the incomplete beta function, the binomial distribution law, the negative binomial distribution law, and a lemma used in a proof of a very weak form of the (3x+1)(3x+1)-conjecture.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1707.05751,
  title  = {Two exercises of Comtet and two identities of Ruehr},
  author = {Jan-Paul Allouche},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.05751},
  year   = {2017}
}