An identity involving partitional generalized binomial coefficients

Define coefficients (_κ^λ) by C_λ(I_p + Z)/C_λ(I_p) = Σ_k=0^l Σ_{?∈$\text{P}$k} (_?^λ) C_κ(Z)/C_κ(I_p), where the C_λ's are zonal polynomials in p by p matrices. It is shown that C_?(Z) etr(Z)/k! = Σ_l=k^∞ Σ_{λ∈$\text{P}$l} (_?^λ) C_λ(Z)/l!. This identity is extended to analogous identities involving generalized Laguerre, Hermite, and other polynomials. Explicit expressions are given for all (_?^λ), ? ∈ $\text{P}$_k, k ≤ 3. Several identities involving the (_?^λ)'s are derived. These are used to derive explicit expressions for coefficients of $\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{\lambda }}\text{(Z)}\text{l}\text{!}$ in expansions of P(Z), $\text{etr}\text{(Z)}\text{k!}$ for all monomials P(Z) in s_j = tr Z^j of degree k ≤ 5.     

On the numerical evaluation of a sum involving binomial coefficients

An efficient way to evaluate \(\sum\limits_{j = k}^n {( - 1)^{j - k - 1} \left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} n \\ j \\ \end{array} } \right)\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {j - 1} \\ {k - 1} \\ \end{array} } \right)} \ln j\) is described. This sum, connected with the logarithmic Weibull distribution, is hard to evaluate directly, because the binomial coefficients become quite large, and then the alternating signs cause severe loss of significant figures. By converting the sum to an integral, we avoid this difficulty.     

Determinants, sums involving binomial coefficients, and moment sequences

In the present paper we investigate some problems connected with the positive definiteness of the sequences $j \to e^{j^\alpha } (j \in N_0 )$ and $j \to e^{ - \left| j \right|^\alpha } (j \in Z)$ , whereα≥0. For this we need and prove some results about certain determinants and finite sums that might be of independent interest.     

Negation of binomial coefficients

We extend the concept of a binomial coefficient to all integer values of its parameters. Our approach is purely algebraic, but we show that it is equivalent to the evaluation of binomial coefficients by means of the Γ-function. In particular, we prove that the traditional rule of “negation” is wrong and should be substituted by a slightly more complex rule. We also show that the “cross product” rule remains valid for the extended definition.     

A congruence involving products of q-binomial coefficients

In this paper we establish a q-analogue of a congruence of Sun concerning the products of binomial coefficients modulo the square of a prime.     

On sums of binomial coefficients involving Catalan and Delannoy numbers modulo $$p^2$$

In this paper, we prove some congruences conjectured by Z.-W. Sun: For any prime \(p>3\), we determine

$$\begin{aligned} \sum \limits _{k = 0}^{p - 1} {\frac{{{C_k}C_k^{(2)}}}{{{{27}^k}}}} \quad {\text { and }}\quad \sum \limits _{k = 1}^{p - 1} {\frac{{\left( {\begin{array}{l} {2k} \\ {k - 1} \\ \end{array}} \right) \left( { \begin{array}{l} {3k} \\ {k - 1} \\ \end{array} } \right) }}{{{{27}^k}}}} \end{aligned}$$

modulo \(p^2\), where \(C_k=\frac{1}{k+1}\left( {\begin{array}{c}2k\\ k\end{array}}\right) \) is the k-th Catalan number and \(C_k^{(2)}=\frac{1}{2k+1}\left( {\begin{array}{c}3k\\ k\end{array}}\right) \) is the second-order Catalan numbers of the first kind. And we prove that

$$\begin{aligned} \sum _{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{D_k}{k}\equiv -q_p(2)+pq_p(2)^2\pmod {p^2}, \end{aligned}$$

where \(D_n=\sum _{k=0}^{n}\left( {\begin{array}{c}n\\ k\end{array}}\right) \left( {\begin{array}{c}n+k\\ k\end{array}}\right) \) is the n-th Delannoy number and \(q_p(2)=(2^{{p-1}}-1)/p\) is the Fermat quotient.

     

Modular periodicity of binomial coefficients

We prove that if the signed binomial coefficient viewed modulo p is a periodic function of i with period h in the range 0?i?k, then k+1 is a power of p, provided h is not too large compared to k. (In particular, 2h?k suffices). As an application, we prove that if G and H are multiplicative subgroups of a finite field, with H<G, and such that 1-α∈G for all α∈G?H, then G∪{0} is a subfield.     

Commutative rings and binomial coefficients

We characterize commutative domainsR for which theR-module ofR-valued polynomials is generated by binomial coefficients. This turns out to be a special case of a more general result concerning commutative ringsR of zero characteristics in which fork=1,2,... and allxR the productx(x–1)·­.·(x–k+1) is divisible byk! inR.The work of the second author has been sponsored by the KBN grant 2 1037 91 01     

Congruences for sums of binomial coefficients

Let q>1 and m>0 be relatively prime integers. We find an explicit period νm(q) such that for any integers n>0 and r we have

     

On theq-log-concavity of Gaussian binomial coefficients

We give a combinatorial proof that is a polynomial inq with nonnegative coefficients for nonnegative integersa, b, k, l withab andlk. In particular, fora=b=n andl=k, this implies theq-log-concavity of the Gaussian binomial coefficients , which was conjectured byButler (Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 101 (1987), 771–775).     

A new generalization of binomial coefficients

Let t be a fixed parameter and x some indeterminate. We give some properties of the generalized binomial coefficients $\genfrac{\langle }{\rangle}{0pt}{}{x}{k}$ inductively defined by $k/x \genfrac{\langle}{\rangle}{0pt}{}{x}{k}= t\genfrac{\langle}{\rangle}{0pt}{}{x-1}{k-1} +(1-t)\genfrac{\langle}{\rangle}{0pt}{}{x-2}{k-2}$ .     

Prime power divisors of binomial coefficients

It is known that for sufficiently large n and m and any r the binomial coefficient (ⁿ_m) which is close to the middle coefficient is divisible by p^r where p is a ‘large’ prime. We prove the exact divisibility of (ⁿ_m) by p^r for p> c(n). The lower bound is essentially the best possible. We also prove some other results on divisibility of binomial coefficients.     

Asymptotic expansions of the binomial coefficients

A general formulae for the asymptotic expansion of not centered binomial coefficients are derived and some useful estimates of the binomial coefficients are presented. The sum of the binomial coefficients is also studied.