Related papers: A q-rious positivity

We show that, for all positive integers $n_1, \ldots, n_m$, $n_{m+1}=n_1$, and any non-negative integers $j$ and $r$ with $j\leqslant m$, the expression $$ \frac{1}{[n_1]}{n_1+n_{m}\brack n_1}^{-1}…

We prove that, for all positive integers $n_1, \ldots, n_m$, $n_{m+1}=n_1$, and non-negative integers $j$ and $r$ with $j\leqslant m$, the following two expressions \begin{align*} &\frac{1}{[n_1+n_m+1]}{n_1+n_{m}\brack…

We conjecture that, if the quotient of two $q$-binomial coefficients with the same top argument is a polynomial, then it has non-negative coefficients. We summarise what is known about the conjecture and prove it in two non-trivial cases.…

We prove that, if $m,n\geqslant 1$ and $a_1,\ldots,a_m$ are nonnegative integers, then \begin{align*} \frac{[a_1+\cdots+a_m+1]!}{[a_1]!\ldots[a_m]!}\sum^{n-1}_{h=0}q^h\prod_{i=1}^m{h\brack a_i} \equiv 0\pmod{[n]}, \end{align*} where…

In this paper we study the factors of some alternating sums of products of binomial and q-binomial coefficients. We prove that for all positive integers n_1,...,n_m, n_{m+1}=n_1, and 0\leq j\leq m-1, {n_1+n_{m}\brack…

F. Bergeron recently asked the intriguing question whether $\binom{b+c}{b}_q -\binom{a+d}{d}_q$ has nonnegative coefficients as a polynomial in $q$, whenever $a,b,c,d$ are positive integers, $a$ is the smallest, and $ad=bc$. We conjecture…

Using a property of the q-shifted factorial, an identity for q-binomial coefficients is proved, which is used to derive the formulas for the q-binomial coefficient for negative arguments. The result is in agreement with an earlier paper…

We first prove that if $a$ has a prime factor not dividing $b$ then there are infinitely many positive integers $n$ such that $\binom {an+bn} {an}$ is not divisible by $bn+1$. This confirms a recent conjecture of Z.-W. Sun. Moreover, we…

Several new transformations for q-binomial coefficients are found, which have the special feature that the kernel is a polynomial with nonnegative coefficients. By studying the group-like properties of these positivity preserving…

We define a $q$-deformation of the classical ring of integer-valued polynomials which we call the ring of quantum integer-valued polynomials. We show that this ring has a remarkable combinatorial structure and enjoys many positivity…

We present new proofs and generalizations of unimodality of the q-binomial coefficients \binom{n}{k}_q as polynomials in q. We use an algebraic approach by interpreting the differences between numbers of certain partitions as Kronecker…

In Pacific J. Math. 292 (2018), 223-238, Shareshian and Woodroofe asked if for every positive integer $n$ there exist primes $p$ and $q$ such that, for all integers $k$ with $1 \leq k \leq n-1$, the binomial coefficient $\binom{n}{k}$ is…

The $q$-analogue of an integer $m$ is given by $[m]_q=(1-q^m)/(1-q)$. Let $a$ be an integer, and let $n$ be a positive odd integer. Via discrete Fourier transforms, we establish the following two identities:…

We will show that $(1-q)(1-q^2)\dots (1-q^m)$ is a polynomial in $q$ with coefficients from $\{-1,0,1\}$ iff $m=1,\ 2,\ 3,$ or $5$ and explore some interesting consequences of this result. We find explicit formulas for the $q$-series…

Using $P(n,m)$, the number of integer partitions of $n$ into exactly $m$ parts, which was the subject of an earlier paper, $P(n,m,p)$, the number of integer partitions of $n$ into exactly $m$ parts with each part at most $p$, can be…

Let $n,p,k$ be three positive integers. We prove that the rational fractions of $q$: $${n \brack k}_{q} {}_3\phi_{2} [ . {matrix}q^{1-k},q^{-p},q^{p-n} q,q^{1-n} {matrix}| q;q^{k+1}]\quad\textrm{and}\quad q^{(n-p)p}\qbi{n}{k}{q} {}_3\phi_2[…

The quantum integer [n]_q is the polynomial 1 + q + q^2 + ... + q^{n-1}, and the sequence of polynomials { [n]_q }_{n=1}^{\infty} is a solution of the functional equation f_{mn}(q) = f_m(q)f_n(q^m). In this paper, semidirect products of…

Suppose that $p$ is an odd prime and $m$ is an integer not divisible by $p$. Sun and Tauraso [Adv. in Appl. Math., 45(2010), 125--148] gave $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{2k}{k+d}/m^k$ and $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{2k}{k+d}/(km^k)$ modulo $p$ for…

We study divisibility properties of certain sums and alternating sums involving binomial coefficients and powers of integers. For example, we prove that for all positive integers $n_1,..., n_m$, $n_{m+1}=n_1$, and any nonnegative integer…

Given an odd prime $q$, a natural number $l$ and non-zero $q$-free integers $a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{l}$, none of which are equal to $1$ or $-1$, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the polynomial $\prod_{j=1}^{l} (x^{q} -…