Related papers: A note on primes dividing alternating sums

Every odd prime number p can be written in exactly (p + 1)/2 ways as a sum ab+cd of two ordered products ab and cd such that min(a, b) > max(c, d). An easy corollary is a proof of Fermat's Theorem expressing primes in 1 + 4N as sums of two…

Let p be a prime = 3 (mod 4). A number of elegant number-theoretical properties of the sums T(p) = \sqrt{p}sum_{n=1}^{(p-1)/2} tan(n^2\pi/p) and C(p) = \sqrt{p}sum_{n=1}^{(p-1)/2} cot(n^2\pi/p) are proved. For example, T(p) equals p times…

We show that if A is a subset of {1, ..., n} such that it has no pairs of elements whose difference is equal to p-1 with p a prime number, then the size of A is O(n(loglog n)^(-clogloglogloglog n)) for some positive constant c.

In this paper, we obtain a lower bound for the number of primes $p\leq x$ such that $p-1$ is a sum of two squares and $p+2$ has a bounded number of prime factors. The proof uses the vector sieve framework, involving a semi-linear sieve and…

In this paper we establish some sophisticated congruences involving central binomial coefficients and Fibonacci numbers. For example, we show that if $p\not=2,5$ is a prime then $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}F_{2k}\binom{2k}{k}=(-1)^{[p/5]}(1-(p/5))…

Let $p$ be a prime. In 1878 \'{E}. Lucas proved that the congruence $$ {p-1\choose k}\equiv (-1)^k\pmod{p}$$ holds for any nonnegative integer $k\in\{0,1,\ldots,p-1\}$. The converse statement was given in Problem 1494 of {\it Mathematics…

The harmonic numbers $H_n=\sum_{0<k\le n}1/k\ (n=0,1,2,\ldots)$ play important roles in mathematics. Let $p>3$ be a prime. With helps of some combinatorial identities, we establish the following two new congruences:…

We investigate, using the weighted linear sieve, the distribution of almost-primes among the residue classes (mod p) that generate the multiplicative group of reduced residue classes. We are concerned with finding an upper bound for the…

A positive integer $n$ is said to be a palindrome in base $b$ (or $b$-adic palindrome) if the representation of $n = (a_k a_{k-1} \cdots a_0)_b$ in base $b$ with $a_k \neq 0$ has the symmetric property $a_{k-i} = a_i$ for every…

Let omega(n) be the number of distinct prime factors dividing n and m > n natural numbers. We calculate a formula showing which prime numbers in which intervals divide a given binomial coefficient. From this formula we get an identity…

Let $p$ be a prime and let $a$ be a positive integer. In this paper we investigate $\sum_{k=0}^{p^a-1}\binom[(h+1)k,k+d]/m^k$ modulo a prime $p$, where $d$ and $m$ are integers with $-h<d<=p^a$ and $m\not=0 (mod p)$. We also study…

Let $p$ be an odd prime. In 2008 E. Mortenson proved van Hamme's following conjecture: $$\sum_{k=0}^{(p-1)/2}(4k+1)\binom{-1/2}k^3\equiv (-1)^{(p-1)/2}p\pmod{p^3}.$$ In this paper we show further that…

Let $p>3$ be a prime, and let $a$ be a rational $p$-adic integer, using WZ method we establish the congruences modulo $p^3$ for $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1} \binom ak\binom{-1-a}k\binom{2k}k\frac {w(k)}{4^k},$$ where $$w(k)=1,\frac 1{k+1},\frac…

Let $\Omega(n)$ denote the number of prime factors of $n$. We show that for any bounded $f\colon\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{C}$ one has \[ \frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^N\, f(\Omega(n)+1)=\frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^N\, f(\Omega(n))+\mathrm{o}_{N\to\infty}(1).…

Let $p>3$ be a prime and $b\ge 2$ an integer such that $p$ does not divide $b$. Then $1/p$ has a periodic digit expansion with respect to the basis $b$. The length $q$ of the period is the (multiplicative) order of $b$ mod $p$. In the case…

Let $p$ be an odd prime, and define $$G_p(x)=\prod_{k=1}^{(p-1)/2}\left(x-e^{2\pi i k^2/p}\right).$$ In this paper we study values of $G_p(x)$ at roots of unity via Galois theory, and confirm some previous conjectures. For example, for any…

This is an English translation of the Latin original "De summa seriei ex numeris primis formatae ${1/3}-{1/5}+{1/7}+{1/11}-{1/13}-{1/17}+{1/19}+{1/23}-{1/29}+{1/31}-$ etc. ubi numeri primi formae $4n-1$ habent signum positivum formae autem…

We prove some properties of the sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge1}$ defined by $a_n=\pi(n)-\pi\bigl(\textstyle\sum_{k=1}^{n-1}a_k\bigr).$

For each positive integer n, we determine the set of symmetric functions f for which the congruence f(p/1,p/2,...,p/(p-1)) \equiv 0 mod p^n holds for all sufficiently large primes p. Our determination is conditional on a conjecture…

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…