Related papers: Variations of Lucas' Theorem Modulo Prime Powers

Let $n,k\in\mathbb{N}$ and let $p_{n}$ denote the $n$th prime number. We define $p_{n}^{(k)}$ recursively as $p_{n}^{(1)}:=p_{n}$ and $p_{n}^{(k)}=p_{p_{n}^{(k-1)}}$, that is, $p_{n}^{(k)}$ is the $p_{n}^{(k-1)}$th prime. In this note we…

In this paper we give simple expressions, involving binomials coefficients, for the value of $c(n,k)$ modulo $p^{v_p(n)}$, when $v_p(n) > 0$. Here $c(n,k)$ denotes a Stirling number of the first kind, and $v_p(n)$ is the highest power of…

The main purpose of this paper is to find all the prime numbers p for which whenever we add to p an odd square less than p we obtain a number which has at most two different prime factors. We solve completely the cases $p\equiv 1,3,5 \pmod…

Let $p>3$ be a prime. We prove that $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{2k}{k}/2^k=(-1)^{(p-1)/2}-p^2E_{p-3} (mod p^3),$$ $$\sum_{k=1}^{(p-1)/2}\binom{2k}{k}/k=(-1)^{(p+1)/2}8/3*pE_{p-3} (mod p^2),$$…

Let $d\ge4$ and $c\in(-d,d)$ be relatively prime integers. We show that for any sufficiently large integer $n$ (in particular $n>24310$ suffices for $4\le d\le 36$), the smallest prime $p\equiv c\pmod d$ with $p\ge(2dn-c)/(d-1)$ is the…

In this paper, we solve a problem of Terence Tao. We prove that for any $K\geq 2$ and sufficiently large $N$, the number of primes $p$ between $N$ and $(1+\frac{1}{K})N$ such that $\mid kp+ja^{i}+l\mid$ is composite for all $1\leq a, |j|,…

We prove a recent conjecture due to Deutsch, Sagan, and Wilson stating that the finite sequence obtained from the first p central trinomial coefficients modulo p by replacing nonzero terms by 1's is palindromic, for any prime number p > 3.…

We confirm several conjectures of Sun involving quadratic residues modulo odd primes. For any prime $p\equiv 1\pmod 4$ and integer $a\not\equiv0\pmod p$, we prove that \begin{align*}&(-1)^{|\{1\le k<\frac p4:\ (\frac kp)=-1\}|}\prod_{1\le…

In 2003, Zhao discovered a curious congruence involving harmonic series and Bernoulli numbers: for any odd prime $p$, $$\sum_{\substack{i,j,k\ge 1\\\gcd(ijk,p)=1\\i+j+k=p}}\frac{1}{ijk}\equiv -2B_{p-3} \pmod{p},$$ where $B_n$ is the $n$-th…

We introduce a refinement of the GPY sieve method for studying prime $k$-tuples and small gaps between primes. This refinement avoids previous limitations of the method, and allows us to show that for each $k$, the prime $k$-tuples…

For a class of Lucas sequences ${x_n}$, we show that if $n$ is a positive integer then $x_n$ has a primitive prime factor which divides $x_n$ to an odd power, except perhaps when $n = 1, 2, 3 or 6$. This has several desirable consequences.

We give elementary proofs for the Apagodu-Zeilberger-Stanton-Amdeberhan-Tauraso congruences $$\sum\limits_{n=0}^{p-1}\dbinom{2n}{n} \equiv\eta_{p}\mod p^{2},$$ $$\sum\limits_{n=0}^{rp-1}\dbinom{2n}{n}…

Primitive roots of 1 mod p^k (k>2 and odd prime p) are sought, in cyclic units group G_k = A_k B_k mod p^k, coprime to p, of order (p-1)p^{k-1}. 'Core' subgroup A_k has order p-1 independent of k, and p+1 generates 'extension' subgroup B_k…

In 2007, Andrews studied the odd Durfee symbols and their odd ranks. Let $N^0(m,k,n)$ denote the number of odd Durfee symbols of $n$ with odd rank congruent to $m$ modulo $k$. Motivated by Andrews' work, many authors obtained generating…

Let $p^k m^2$ be an odd perfect number with special prime $p$. In this article, we provide an alternative proof for the biconditional that $\sigma(m^2) \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ holds if and only if $p \equiv k \pmod 8$. We then give an application…

Let $p$ be a prime, and let $f(x)$ be an integer-valued polynomial. By a combinatorial approach, we obtain a nontrivial lower bound of the $p$-adic order of the sum $$\sum_{k=r(mod p^{\beta})}\binom{n}{k}(-1)^k f([(k-r)/p^{\alpha}]),$$…

Let $p$ be a prime greater than 3. In the paper we mainly determine $\sum_{k=0}^{[p/4]}\binom{4k}{2k}(-1)^k$, $\sum_{k=0}^{[p/3]}\binom{3k}k, \sum_{k=0}^{[p/3]}\binom{3k}k(-1)^k$ and $\sum_{k=0}^{[p/3]}\binom{3k}k(-3)^k$ modulo $p$, where…

Let $\{A'_n\}$ be the Ap\'ery numbers given by $A'_n=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom nk^2\binom{n+k}k.$ For any prime $p\equiv 3\pmod 4$ we show that $A'_{\frac{p-1}2}\equiv \frac{p^2}3\binom{\frac{p-3}2}{\frac{p-3}4}^{-2}\pmod {p^3}$. Let $\{t_n\}$ be…

Let $p$ be a large odd prime, let $x=\log p)(\log\log p)^{3+\varepsilon}$ and let $q\ll\log\log p$ be an integer, where $\varepsilon>0$ is a small number. This note proves the existence of small prime quadratic residues and small prime…

For each prime $p$, let $n(p)$ denote the least quadratic nonresidue modulo $p$. Vinogradov conjectured that $n(p) = O(p^\eps)$ for every fixed $\eps>0$. This conjecture follows from the generalised Riemann hypothesis, and is known to hold…