The Apery polynomials are defined by $A_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{n\choose k}^2{n+k\choose k}^2 x^k$ for all nonnegative integers $n$. We confirm several conjectures of Z.-W. Sun on the congruences for the sum $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(-1)^k(2k+1) A_k(x)$ with $x\in Z$.
In this paper, we generalise a congruence which proved by V. J.-W. Guo and J. Zeng \cite{gz-jnt-2012} involving Apéry numbers, and we obtain a congruence involving Franel numbers which confirms a congruence conjecture of Z.-W. Sun \cite[Conjecture 57(ii)]{sun-njdx-2019}.
For $n=0,1,2,\ldots$ let $W_n=\sum_{k=0}^{[n/3]}\binom{2k}k \binom{3k}k\binom n{3k}(-3)^{n-3k}$, where $[x]$ is the greatest integer not exceeding $x$. Then $\{W_n\}$ is an Apéry-like sequence. In this paper we deduce many congruences involving $\{W_n\}$, in particular we determine $\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{2k}k\frac{W_k}{m^k}\pmod p$ for $m=-640332,-5292,-972,-108,-44,-27,-12,8,54,243$ by using binary quadratic forms, where $p>3$ is a prime. We also prove several congruences for generalized Apéry-like numbers, and pose 29 challenging conjectures on congruences involving binomial coefficients an…
Let $n$ be a nonnegative integer. The $n$-th Apéry number is defined by $$ A_n:=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n+k}{k}^2\binom{n}{k}^2. $$ Z.-W. Sun ever investigated the congruence properties of Apéry numbers and posed some conjectures. For example, Sun conjectured that for any prime $p\geq7$ $$ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(2k+1)A_k\equiv p-\frac{7}{2}p^2H_{p-1}\pmod{p^6} $$ and for any prime $p\geq5$ $$ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(2k+1)^3A_k\equiv p^3+4p^4H_{p-1}+\frac{6}{5}p^8B_{p-5}\pmod{p^9}, $$ where $H_n=\sum_{k=1}^n1/k$ denotes the $n$-th harmonic number and $B_0,B_1,\ldots$ are the well-known Bernoulli numbers. In this…
We present some congruences modulo $p^{6-d}$ for sums of the type $\sum_{k=0}^{(p-3)/2}x^k{2k\choose k}/(2k+1)^d$, for $d=1,2,3$ where $p>5$ is a prime.
The Apéry numbers $A_n$ and central Delannoy numbers $D_n$ are defined by $$A_n=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{n+k\choose 2k}^2{2k\choose k}^2, \quad D_n=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{n+k\choose 2k}{2k\choose k}. $$ Motivated by some recent work of Z.-W. Sun, we prove the following congruences: \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(2k+1)^{2r+1}A_k &\equiv \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\varepsilon^k (2k+1)^{2r+1}D_k \equiv 0\pmod n, where $n\geqslant 1$, $r\geqslant 0$, and $\varepsilon=\pm1$. For $r=1$, we further show that \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(2k+1)^{3}A_k &\equiv 0\pmod{n^3}, \quad \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(2k+1)^{3}A_k &\equiv p^3 \pmod{2p^6}, where $p>3$ is a prime. …
In this paper, we pose lots of challenging conjectures on congruences for the sums involving binomial coefficients and Apéry-like numbers modulo $p^3$, where $p$ is an odd prime.
Let $p>5$ be a prime. We prove congruences modulo $p^{3-d}$ for sums of the general form $\sum_{k=0}^{(p-3)/2}\binom{2k}{k}t^k/(2k+1)^{d+1}$ and $\sum_{k=1}^{(p-1)/2}\binom{2k}{k}t^k/k^d$ with $d=0,1$. We also consider the special case $t=(-1)^{d}/16$ of the former sum, where the congruences hold modulo $p^{5-d}$.
In this paper we establish some congruences involving the Apéry numbers $β_{n}=\sum_{k=0}^{n}\binom{n}{k}^2\binom{n+k}{k}$ $(n=0,1,2,\ldots)$. For example, we show that $$\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(11k^2+13k+4)β_k\equiv0\pmod{2n^2}$$ for any positive integer $n$, and $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(11k^2+13k+4)β_k\equiv 4p^2+4p^7B_{p-5}\pmod{p^8}$$ for any prime $p>3$, where $B_{p-5}$ is the $(p-5)$th Bernoulli number. We also present certain relations between congruence properties of the two kinds of Apery numbers, $β_n$ and $A_n=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom nk^2\binom{n+k}k^2$.
The Apéry polynomials are given by $$A_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom nk^2\binom{n+k}k^2x^k\ \ (n=0,1,2,\ldots).$$ (Those $A_n=A_n(1)$ are Apéry numbers.) Let $p$ be an odd prime. We show that $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(-1)^kA_k(x)\equiv\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\frac{\binom{2k}k^3}{16^k}x^k\pmod{p^2},$$ and that $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}A_k(x)\equiv\left(\frac xp\right)\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\frac{\binom{4k}{k,k,k,k}}{(256x)^k}\pmod{p}$$ for any $p$-adic integer $x\not\equiv 0\pmod p$. This enables us to determine explicitly $\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(\pm1)^kA_k$ mod $p$, and $\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(-1)^kA_k$ mod $p^2$ in the case $p\equiv 2\pmo…
Let $p$ be a prime with $p>3$, and let $a,b$ be two rational $p-$integers. In this paper we present general congruences for $\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom ak\binom{-1-a}k\frac p{k+b}\pmod {p^2}$. For $n=0,1,2,\ldots$ let $D_n$ and $b_n$ be Domb and Almkvist-Zudilin numbers, respectively. We also establish congruences for $$\sum_{n=0}^{p-1}\frac{D_n}{16^n},\quad \sum_{n=0}^{p-1}\frac{D_n}{4^n}, \quad \sum_{n=0}^{p-1}\frac{b_n}{(-3)^n},\quad \sum_{n=0}^{p-1}\frac{b_n}{(-27)^n}\pmod {p^2}$$ in terms of certain binary quadratic forms.
It is known that the numbers which occur in Apery's proof of the irrationality of zeta(2) have many interesting congruence properties while the associated generating function satisfies a second order differential equation. We prove supercongruences for a generalization of numbers which arise in Beukers' and Zagier's study of integral solutions of Apery-like differential equations.
In the course of the proof of the irrationality of zeta(2) R. Apery introduced numbers b_n = \sum_{k=0}^n {n \choose k}^2{n+k \choose k}. Stienstra and Beukers showed that for the prime p > 3 Apery numbers satisfy congruence b((p-1)/2) = 4a^2-2p mod p, if p = a^2+b^2 (where a is odd). Later, Zagier found some generalizations of Apery numbers, so called sporadic sequences, and recently Osburn and Straub proved similar congruences for all but one of the six Zagier's sporadic sequences (three cases were already known to be true) and conjectured the congruence for the sixth sequence. In this paper…
In this paper, we will give another proof of Zhi-Wei Sun's three conjectures on Apéry-like sums involving harmonic numbers by proving some identities among special values of multiple polylogarithms.
Define $g_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom nk^2\binom{2k}kx^k$ for $n=0,1,2,...$. Those numbers $g_n=g_n(1)$ are closely related to Apéry numbers and Franel numbers. In this paper we establish some fundamental congruences involving $g_n(x)$. For example, for any prime $p>5$ we have $$\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{g_k(-1)}{k}\equiv 0\pmod{p^2}\quad{and}\quad\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{g_k(-1)}{k^2}\equiv 0\pmod p.$$ This is similar to Wolstenholme's classical congruences $$\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac1k\equiv0\pmod{p^2}\quad{and}\quad\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{1}{k^2}\equiv0\pmod p$$ for any prime $p>3$.
The Apéry numbers $A_n$ and the Franel numbers $f_n$ are defined by $$A_n=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{\binom{n+k}{2k}}^2{\binom{2k}{k}}^2\ \ \ \ \ {\rm and }\ \ \ \ \ \ f_n=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{\binom{n}{k}}^3(n=0, 1, \cdots,).$$ In this paper, we prove three supercongruences for Apéry numbers or Franel numbers conjectured by Z.-W. Sun. Let $p\geq 5$ be a prime and let $n\in \mathbb{Z}^{+}$. We show that \begin{align} \notag \frac{1}{n}\bigg(\sum_{k=0}^{pn-1}(2k+1)A_k-p\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(2k+1)A_k\bigg)\equiv0\pmod{p^{4+3ν_p(n)}} \end{align} and \begin{align}\notag \frac{1}{n^3}\bigg(\sum_{k=0}^{pn-1}(2k+1)^3A_k-p^…
For all nonnegative integers n, the Franel numbers are defined as $$ f_n=\sum_{k=0}^n {n\choose k}^3.$$ We confirm two conjectures of Z.-W. Sun on congruences for Franel numbers: \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(3k+2)(-1)^k f_k &\equiv 0 \pmod{2n^2}, \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(3k+2)(-1)^k f_k &\equiv 2p^2 (2^p-1)^2 \pmod{p^5}, where n is a positive integer and p>3 is a prime.
In this paper, we prove two conjectures of Z.-W. Sun: $$2n\binom{2n}n\big|\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(3k+1)\binom{2k}k^3{16}^{n-1-k}\ \mbox{for}\ \mbox{all}\ n=2,3,\cdots,$$ and $$\sum_{k=0}^{(p-1)/2}\frac{3k+1}{16^k}\binom{2k}{k}^3\equiv p+2\left(\frac{-1}{p}\right)p^3E_{p-3}\pmod{p^4},$$ where $p>3$ is a prime and $E_0,E_1,E_2,\cdots$ are Euler numbers.
Based on a $q$-congruence of the author and Petrov, we set up a $q$-analogue of Sun--Tauraso's congruence for sums of Catalan numbers, which extends a $q$-congruence due to Tauraso.
In recent years, Z.-W. Sun proposed several sophisticated conjectures on congruences for finite sums with terms involving combinatorial sequences such as central trinomial coefficients, Domb numbers and Franel numbers. These sums are double summations of hypergeometric terms. Using the telescoping method and certain mathematical software packages, we transform such a double summation into a single sum. With this new approach, we confirm several open conjectures of Sun.
In this note, by the umbra calculus method, the Sun and Zagier's congruences involving the Bell numbers and the derangement numbers are generalized to the polynomial cases. Some special congruences are also provided.
Zhi-Wei Sun conjectures if k congruence classes are disjoint, then two of the moduli have greatest common divisor at least as large as k. We prove this conjecture for k strictly less than 21.
We establish a $q$-analogue of Sun--Zhao's congruence on harmonic sums. Based on this $q$-congruence and a $q$-series identity, we prove a congruence conjecture on sums of central $q$-binomial coefficients, which was recently proposed by Guo. We also deduce a $q$-analogue of a congruence due to Apagodu and Zeilberger from Guo's $q$-congruence.
Via symbolic summation method, we establish the following series for $π^2$: \begin{align*} \sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{H_k-2H_{2k}}{(-3)^k k} = \frac{π^2}{18}, \end{align*} where $H_k=\sum_{j=1}^k 1/j$. We also derive a $p$-adic congruence related to this series. As an application, we prove two congruences involving Franel numbers, one of which was originally conjectured by Sun.
For a positive integer $n$ let $H_n=\sum_{k=1}^{n}1/k$ be the $n$th harmonic number. In this note we prove that for any prime $p\ge 7$, $$ \sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{H_k^2}{k^2} \equiv4/5pB_{p-5}\pmod{p^2}, $$ which confirms the conjecture recently proposed by Z. W. Sun. Furthermore, we also prove two similar congruences modulo $p^2$.
We confirm a conjectural supercongruence involving Catalan numbers, which is one of the 100 selected open conjectures on congruences of Sun. The proof makes use of hypergeometric series identities and symbolic summation method.
Let $p>3$ be a prime, and let $m$ be an integer with $p\nmid m$. In the paper, by using the work of Ishii and Deuring's theorem for elliptic curves with complex multiplication we solve some conjectures of Zhi-Wei Sun concerning $\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{2k}k^2\binom{4k}{2k}m^{-k}\mod {p^2}$.
Let $p>3$ be a prime, and let $m$ be an integer with $p\nmid m$. In the paper, based on the work of Brillhart and Morton, by using the work of Ishii and Deuring's theorem for elliptic curves with complex multiplication we solve some conjectures of Zhi-Wei Sun concerning $\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{2k}k^2\binom{3k}km^{-k}\mod {p^2}$.
We establish some supercongruences related to a supercongruence of Van Hamme, such as \begin{align*} \sum_{k=0}^{(p+1)/2} (-1)^k (4k-1)\frac{(-\frac{1}{2})_k^3}{k!^3} &\equiv p(-1)^{(p+1)/2}+p^3(2-E_{p-3})\pmod{p^{4}},\\ \sum_{k=0}^{(p+1)/2} (4k-1)^5 \frac{(-\frac{1}{2})_k^4}{k!^4} &\equiv 16p\pmod{p^{4}}, \end{align*} where $p$ is an odd prime and $E_{p-3}$ is the $(p-3)$-th Euler number. Our proof uses some congruences of Z.-W. Sun, the Wilf--Zeilberger method, Whipple's $_7F_6$ transformation, and the software package {\tt Sigma} developed by Schneider. We also put forward two related conje…
Let p be any prime and a be a positive integer. For nonnegative integers l,n and an integer r, the normalized cyclotomic $ψ$-coefficient $${n,r}_{l,p^a}:=p^{-[(n-p^{a-1}-lp^a)/(p^{a-1}(p-1))]} \sum_{k=r(mod p^a)}(-1)^k{n \choose k}{{(k-r)/p^a} \choose l}$$ is known to be an integer. In this paper, we show that this coefficient behaves like binomial coefficients and satisfies some Lucas-type congruences. This implies that a congruence of Wan is often optimal, and two conjectures of Sun and Davis are true.
In the present paper, we determine the sums $\sum_{j=1}^{p-1}\frac{H_j^{(s_1)}H_j^{(s_3)}}{j^{s_2}}$ and $\sum_{j=1}^{p-1}\frac{H_j^{(s_1)}H_j^{(s_3)}H_j^{(s_4)}}{j^{s_2}}$ modulo $p$ and modulo $p^2$ in certain cases. This is done by using multiple harmonic sums of length three and four, as well as, many other results. In addition, We recover three congruences conjectured by Z.-W Sun and solved later by the author himself and R. Meštrović.
In this paper, we confirm several conjectures posed by Sun recently; for example, we prove that for any odd prime $p$ we have $$ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}A_k\equiv\begin{cases}4x^2-2p\pmod{p^2}\quad&\text{if $p=x^2+2y^2\ (x,y\in\mathbb{Z})$},\\ 0\pmod{p^2}\quad&\text{if $p\equiv5,7\pmod{8}$},\end{cases} $$ where $A_n:=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n+k}{k}^2\binom{n}{k}^2$ are the Apéry numbers.
The Delannoy polynomial $D_n(x)$ is defined by $$ D_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{n\choose k}{n+k\choose k}x^k. $$ We prove that, if $x$ is an integer and $p$ is a prime not dividing $x(x+1)$, then \begin{align*} \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(2k+1)D_k(x)^3 &\equiv p\left(\frac{-4x-3}{p}\right) \pmod{p^2}, \\ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(2k+1)D_k(x)^4 &\equiv p \pmod{p^2}, \\ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(-1)^k(2k+1)D_k(x)^3 &\equiv p\left(\frac{4x+1}{p}\right) \pmod{p^2}, \end{align*} where $\big(\frac{\cdot}{p}\big)$ denotes the Legendre symbol. The first two congruences confirm a conjecture of Z.-W. Sun [Sci. China 57 (2014), 1375--1400].…
Binomial coefficients and central trinomial coefficients play important roles in combinatorics. Let $p>3$ be a prime. We show that $$T_{p-1}\equiv\left(\frac p3\right)3^{p-1}\ \pmod{p^2},$$ where the central trinomial coefficient $T_n$ is the constant term in the expansion of $(1+x+x^{-1})^n$. We also prove three congruences modulo $p^3$ conjectured by Sun, one of which is $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{p-1}k\binom{2k}k((-1)^k-(-3)^{-k})\equiv \left(\frac p3\right)(3^{p-1}-1)\ \pmod{p^3}.$$ In addition, we get some new combinatorial identities.
We give q-analogues of the following congruences by Z.-W. Sun: \sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{D_k}{k} \equiv -\frac{2^{p-1}-1}{p} \pmod p,\\ \sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{H_k}{k 2^k}\equiv 0 \pmod{p},\quad p\geqslant 5, where p is a prime, D_n=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{n+k\choose 2k}{2k\choose k} are the Delannoy numbers, and H_n=\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k} are the harmonic numbers. We also prove that, for any positive integer m and prime p>m+1, \sum_{1\leqslant k_1\leqslant \cdots \leqslant k_m\leqslant p-1}\frac{1}{k_1\cdots k_m 2^{k_m}} \equiv\frac{1}{2}\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{(-1)^{k-1}}{k^m} \pmod p, which is a multiple g…
In this paper, we study congruences on sums of products of binomial coefficients that can be proved by using properties of the Jacobi polynomials. We give special attention to polynomial congruences containing Catalan numbers, second-order Catalan numbers, the sequence (\seqnum{A176898}) $S_n=\frac{{6n\choose 3n}{3n\choose 2n}}{2{2n\choose n}(2n+1)},$ and the binomial coefficients ${3n\choose n}$ and ${4n\choose 2n}$. As an application, we address several conjectures of Z.\ W.\ Sun on congruences of sums involving $S_n$ and we prove a cubic residuacity criterion in terms of sums of the binomia…
Let $p$ be an odd prime. In the paper, by using the properties of Legendre polynomials we prove some congruences for $\sum_{k=0}^{\frac{p-1}2}\binom{2k}k^2m^{-k}\mod {p^2}$. In particular, we confirm several conjectures of Z.W. Sun. We also pose 13 conjectures on supercongruences.
For any odd prime p we obtain q-analogues of Van Hamme's supercongruence: $$ \sum_{k=0}^{\frac{p-1}{2}}{2k\choose k}^3\frac{1}{64^k} \equiv 0 \pmod{p^2} \quad\text{for}\quad p\equiv 3\pmod 4, $$ and Rodriguez-Villegas' Beukers-like supercongruences involving products of three binomial coefficients. For example, we prove that \begin{align*} \sum_{k=0}^{\frac{p-1}{2}} {2k\brack k}_{q^2}^3 \frac{q^{2k}}{(-q^2;q^2)_k^2 (-q;q)_{2k}^2} &\equiv 0\pmod{[p]^2} \quad\text{for}\quad p\equiv 3\pmod 4, \\ \sum_{k=0}^{\frac{p-1}{2}}{2k\brack k}_{q^3}\frac{(q;q^3)_k (q^{2};q^3)_{k} q^{3k} }{ (q^{6};q^{6})_k^…
Let $n$ and $r$ be positive integers. Define the numbers $S_n^{(r)}$ by $S_n^{(r)}=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n}{k}^2\binom{2k}{k}(2k+1)^r.$ In this paper we prove some conjectures of Guo and Liu which extend some conjectures of Z.-W. Sun \cite{Su1}, such as: There exist integers $a_{2r-1}$ and $b_r$, independent of $n$, such that $$a_{2r-1}\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}S_k^{(2r-1)}\equiv0\pmod{n^2}\ \mbox{and}\ b_r\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}kS_k^{(r)}\equiv0\pmod{n^2}.$$ By Zeilberger algorithm, we find that for all $0\leq j<n$, $$(2j+1)\binom{2j}j\sum_{k=j}^{n-1}(2k-j+1)\binom kj^2\equiv0\pmod{n^2}.$$
Motivated by recent works of Sun and Tauraso, we prove some variations on the Green-Krammer identity involving central q-binomial coefficients, such as $$ \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}(-1)^kq^{-{k+1\choose 2}}{2k\brack k}_q \equiv (\frac{n}{5}) q^{-\lfloor n^4/5\rfloor} \pmod{Φ_n(q)}, $$ where $\big(\frac{n}{p}\big)$ is the Legendre symbol and $Φ_n(q)$ is the $n$th cyclotomic polynomial. As consequences, we deduce that $$ \sum_{k=0}^{3^a m-1} q^{k}{2k\brack k}_q &\equiv 0 \pmod{(1-q^{3^a})/(1-q)}, \sum_{k=0}^{5^a m-1}(-1)^kq^{-{k+1\choose 2}}{2k\brack k}_q &\equiv 0 \pmod{(1-q^{5^a})/(1-q)}, $$ for $a,m\ge…