Related papers: On sums of binomial coefficients and their applica…

Using combinatorial techniques, we derive a recurrence identity that expresses an exponential power sum with negative powers in terms of another exponential power sum with positive powers. Consequently, we derive a formula for the power sum…

The Sun polynomials $g_n(x)$ are defined by \begin{align*} g_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n{n\choose k}^2{2k\choose k}x^k. \end{align*} We prove that, for any positive integer $n$, there hold \begin{align*} &\frac{1}{n}\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(4k+3)g_k(x)…

This paper investigates coefficients of cyclotomic polynomials theoretically and experimentally. We prove the following result. {{\em If $n=p_1\ldots p_k$ where $p_i$ are odd primes and $p_1<p_2<\ldots<p_r<p_1+p_2<p_{r+1}<\ldots<p_t$ with…

Let $p>3$ be a prime and let $a$ be a positive integer. We show that if $p\equiv1\pmod 4$ or $a>1$ then $$\sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor\frac34p^a\rfloor}\frac{\binom{2k}k^2}{16^k}\equiv\l(\frac{-1}{p^a}\r)\pmod{p^3}$$ with $(-)$ the Jacobi symbol,…

In this work we consider the congruence $\sum_{j=1}^{n-1} j^{k(n-1)} \equiv -1 \pmod n$ for each $k \in \mathbb{N}$, thus extending Giuga's ideas for $k=1$. In particular, it is proved that a pair $(n,k)\in \mathbb{N}^2$ satisfies this…

The Boros-Moll polynomials arise in the evaluation of a quartic integral. The original double summation formula does not imply the fact that the coefficients of these polynomials are positive. Boros and Moll proved the positivity by using…

It is shown that for any prime $p$ and any natural numbers $\ell, m,$ and $s$ such that $0<s<p$, the three following congruences \begin{align*}\sum_{i\ge \ell+1}(-1)^{m-i} {m \choose i}{m+s-1+i(p-1) \choose m+s-1+\ell(p-1)} &\equiv 0 \bmod…

We give a characterization of all pairs $(k,n)$ of positive integers for which the ratio $$ \frac{1^k-2^k+3^k-\dots+(-1)^{n+1} n^k}{1^k-2^k+3^k-\dots+(-1)^{n}(n-1)^k} $$ of two consecutive alternating power sums is an integer.

In this paper, we consider sums of class numbers of the type $\sum_{m\equiv a\pmod{p}} H(4n-m^2)$, where $p$ is an odd prime, $n\in \mathbb{N},$ and $a\in \mathbb{Z}$. By showing that these are coefficients of mixed mock modular forms, we…

In this paper, we study some supercongruences involving the sequence $$ t_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n}{k}\binom{x}{k}\binom{x+k}{k}2^k $$ and solve some open problems. For any odd prime $p$ and $p$-adic integer $x$, we determine…

The coefficients c(n,k) defined by (1-k^2x)^(-1/k) = sum c(n,k) x^n reduce to the central binomial coefficients for k=2. Motivated by a question of H. Montgomery and H. Shapiro for the case k=3, we prove that c(n,k) are integers and study…

We consider certain generalized binomial sums $\mathcal{S}_{(r,n)}(\ell)$ and discuss the nonintegrality of their values for integral parameters $n,r \geq 1$ and $\ell \in \mathbb{Z}$ in several cases using $p$-adic methods. In particular,…

We give a direct combinatorial proof of a famous identity, $$ \sum_{i+j=n} m{2i}{i} \binom{2j}{j} = 4^n $$ by actually counting pairs of $k$-subsets of $2k$-sets. Then we discuss two different generalizations of the identity, and end the…

In this paper, we pose lots of challenging conjectures on congruences for the sums involving binomial coefficients and Ap\'ery-like numbers modulo $p^3$, where $p$ is an odd prime.

For any $n\in\mathbb{N}=\{0,1,2,\ldots\}$ and $b,c\in\mathbb{Z}$, the generalized central trinomial coefficient $T_n(b,c)$ denotes the coefficient of $x^n$ in the expansion of $(x^2+bx+c)^n$. Let $p$ be an odd prime. In this paper, we…

For a fixed positive integer $m$ and any partition $m = m_1 + m_2 + \cdots + m_e$ , there exists a sequence $\{n_{i}\}_{i=1}^{k}$ of positive integers such that $$m=\frac{1}{n_{1}}+\frac{1}{n_{2}}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n_{k}},$$ with the property…

For a fixed integer N, and fixed numbers b_1,...,b_N, we consider sequences, the nth term (a_n) of which is the sum of the squares of the terms in the expansion of (b_1 + ... + b_N)^n. In the case all b_i=1, we give a formula for a…

We give combinatorial proofs of several recent results due to Merca on the sum of different parts congruent to $r$ modulo $m$ in all partitions of $n$. The proofs make use of some well known involutions from the literature and some new…

Summation formulas, such as the Euler-Maclaurin expansion or Gregory's quadrature, have found many applications in mathematics, ranging from accelerating series, to evaluating fractional sums and analyzing asymptotics, among others. We show…

As a well-known enumerative problem, the number of solutions of the equation $m=m_1+...+m_k$ with $m_1\leqslant...\leqslant m_k$ in positive integers is $\Pi(m,k)=\sum_{i=0}^k\Pi(m-k,i)$ and $\Pi$ is called the additive partition function.…