English

A note on the Borwein conjecture

Combinatorics 2020-01-01 v6 Number Theory

Abstract

A conjecture of Borwein asserts that for any positive integers nn and kk, the coefficient a3ka_{3k} of q3kq^{3k} in the expansion of j=0n(1q3j+1)(1q3j+2)\prod_{j=0}^n (1-q^{3j+1})(1-q^{3j+2}) is nonnegative. In this paper we prove that for any 0kn0 \leq k\leq n, there is a constant 0<c<10<c<1 such that a3k+a3(n+1)+3k++a3n(n+1)+3k=23nn+1(1+O(cn)).a_{3k}+a_{3(n+1)+3k}+\cdots+a_{3n(n+1)+3k}=\frac {2\cdot 3^{n}} {n+1}(1+O(c^n)). In particular, a3k+a3(n+1)+3k++a3n(n+1)+3k>0.a_{3k}+a_{3(n+1)+3k}+\cdots+a_{3n(n+1)+3k}>0.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.01191,
  title  = {A note on the Borwein conjecture},
  author = {Jiyou Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.01191},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

13 pages; proofs simplified and details added

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:00:53.989Z