Related papers: Wilf's Conjecture

In this paper we study recurrences concerning the combinatorial sum $[n,r]_m=\sum_{k\equiv r (mod m)}\binom {n}{k}$ and the alternate sum $\sum_{k\equiv r (mod m)}(-1)^{(k-r)/m}\binom{n}{k}$, where m>0, $n\ge 0$ and r are integers. For…

Given a finite nonempty sequence of integers S, by grouping adjacent terms it is always possible to write it, possibly in many ways, as S = X Y^k, where X and Y are sequences and Y is nonempty. Choose the version which maximizes the value…

Let $s_q(n)$ denote the sum of the digits in the $q$-ary expansion of an integer $n$. In 1978, Stolarsky showed that $$ \liminf_{n\to\infty} \frac{s_2(n^2)}{s_2(n)} = 0. $$ He conjectured that, as for $n^2$, this limit infimum should be 0…

A problem in zero-sum theory is to determine all pairs $(k,n)$ for which every minimal zero-sum sequence of length $k$ modulo $n$ has index $1$. While all other cases have been solved more than a decade ago, the case when $k$ equals $4$ and…

We study the divisibility of the sums of the odd power of consecutive integers, $S(m,k)=1^{mk}+2^{mk}+\cdots+k^{mk}$ and $1^k+2^k+\cdots+n^k$ for odd integers $m$ and $k$, by using the Girard-Waring identity. Faulhaber's approach for the…

It is established that for every pair of additive forms $f=\sum_{i=1}^s a_i x_i^k, g=\sum_{i=1}^s b_i x_i^k$ of degree $k$ in $s>2k^2$ variables the equations $f=g=0$ have a non-trivial $p$-adic solution for all odd primes $p$.

In this paper we consider $N$, the number of solutions $(x,y,u,v)$ to the equation $ (-1)^u r a^x + (-1)^v s b^y = c$ in nonnegative integers $x, y$ and integers $u, v \in \{0,1\}$, for given integers $a>1$, $b>1$, $c>0$, $r>0$ and $s>0$.…

This is a historical introduction to the theory of Stirling numbers of the second kind S(n,k) from the point of view of analysis. We tell the story of their birth in the book of James Stirling (1730) and show how they mature in the works of…

We prove that for every natural number n there exists a natural number N(n) such that every multilinear skew-symmetric polynomial on N(n) or more variables which vanishes in the free associative algebra vanishes as well in any n-generated…

By applying the Newton-Gregory expansion to the polynomial associated with the sum of powers of integers $S_k(n) = 1^k + 2^k + \cdots + n^k$, we derive a couple of infinite families of explicit formulas for $S_k(n)$. One of the families…

We give explicit estimates for the Stirling numbers of the second kind $S(n,m)$. With a few exceptions, such estimates are asymptotically sharp. The form of these estimates varies according to $m$ lying in the central or non-central regions…

Following Stolarsky, we say that a natural number n is flimsy in base b if some positive multiple of n has smaller digit sum in base b than n does; otherwise it is sturdy. We develop algorithmic methods for the study of sturdy and flimsy…

We consider incomplete exponential sums in several variables of the form S(f,n,m) = \frac{1}{2^n} \sum_{x_1 \in \{-1,1\}} ... \sum_{x_n \in \{-1,1\}} x_1 ... x_n e^{2\pi i f(x)/p}, where m>1 is odd and f is a polynomial of degree d with…

In this short note we provide some algebraic identity with a proof exploiting its probabilistic interpretation. We show several consequences of the identity, in particular we obtain a new representation of a Stirling number of second kind,…

In this paper, we use our previous study of the higher order Bernoulli numbers $B_n^{(l)}$ to investigate the $p$-adic properties of the Stirling numbers of the second kind $S(n,k)$. For example, we give a new, greatly simplified proof of…

We show the existence of a constant $c > 0$ such that, for all positive integers $n$, there exist integers $1 \leq a_1 < \ldots < a_k \leq n$ such that there are at least $cn^2$ distinct integers of the form $\sum_{i=u}^{v}a_i$ with $1 \leq…

We improve upon a result of Steinerberger (2024) by demonstrating that for any fixed $k \in \mathbb{N}$ and sufficiently large $n$, there exist integers $1 \leq a_1, \dots, a_k \leq n$ satisfying: \begin{align*} 0 < \left\| \sum_{j=1}^{k}…

We consider generalized Stirling numbers of the second kind $% S_{a,b,r}^{\alpha_{s},\beta_{s},r_{s},p_{s}}\left( p,k\right) $, $% k=0,1,\ldots .rp+\sum_{s=2}^{L}r_{s}p_{s}$, where $a,b,\alpha_{s},\beta_{s} $ are complex numbers, and…

Pilz's conjecture states that for any finite set $A=\{a_1,a_2,\dots,a_k\}$ of positive integers and positive integer $n$ in the union of the sets $\{a_1,2a_1,\dots,na_1\},\dots, \{a_k,2a_k,\dots,na_k\}$ (considered as a multiset) at least…

We solve multiple conjectures by Byszewski and Ulas about the sum of base $b$ digits function. In order to do this, we develop general results about summations over the sum of digits function. As a corollary, we describe an unexpected new…