We present several types of ordinary generating functions involving central binomial coefficients, harmonic numbers, and odd harmonic numbers. Our results complement those of Boyadzhiev from 2012 and Chen from 2016. Based on these generating functions we evaluate several infinite series in closed form. In addition, we offer some combinatorial sum identities involving Catalan numbers, harmonic numbers and odd harmonic numbers. Finally, we analyze a special log-integral with Fibonacci numbers and odd harmonic numbers.
Here we present the new applications of the Egorychev method of coefficients of integral representations and computation of combinatorial sums developed by the author at the end of 1970's and its recent applications to the algebra and the theory of holomorphic functions in C^n and others.
For the Stirling numbers of the second kind $S(n,k)$ and the ordered Bell numbers $B(n)$, we prove the identity $\sum_{k=1}^{n/2} S(n,2k)(2k-1)! = B(n-1)$. An analogous identity holds for the sum over odd $k$'s.
Ozeki and Prodinger showed that the odd power sum of the first several consecutive Fibonacci numbers of even order is equal to a polynomial evaluated at certain Fibonacci number of odd order. We prove that this polynomial and its derivative both vanish at $1$, and will be an integer polynomial after multiplying it by a product of the first consecutive Lucas numbers of odd order. This presents an affirmative answer to a conjecture of Melham.
We consider certain modules of the symmetric groups whose basis elements are called tabloids. Some of these modules are isomorphic to subspaces of the cohomology rings of subvarieties of flag varieties as modules of the symmetric groups. We give a combinatorial description for some weighted sums of their characters, i.e., we introduce combinatorial objects called $(ρ,\Ll)$-tabloids and rewrite weighted sums of characters as the numbers of these combinatorial objects. We also consider the meaning of these combinatorial objects, i.e., we construct a correspondence between $(ρ,\Ll)$-tabloids and …
Recursive matrices are ubiquitous in combinatorics, which have been extensively studied. We focus on the study of the sums of $2\times 2$ minors of certain recursive matrices, the alternating sums of their $2\times 2$ minors, and the sums of their $2\times 2$ permanents. We obtain some combinatorial identities related to these sums, which generalized the work of Sun and Ma in [{\it Electron. J. Combin. 2014}] and [{\it European J. Combin. 2014}]. With the help of the computer algebra package {\tt HolonomicFunctions}, we further get some new identities involving Narayana polynomials.
Many combinatorial sequences (for example, the Catalan and Motzkin numbers) may be expressed as the constant term of $P(x)^k Q(x)$, for some Laurent polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ in the variable $x$ with integer coefficients. Denoting such a sequence by $a_k$, we obtain a general formula that determines the congruence class, modulo $p$, of the indefinite sum $\sum_{k=0}^{rp -1} a_k$, for {\it any} prime $p$, and any positive integer $r$, as a linear combination of sequences that satisfy linear recurrence (alias difference) equations with constant coefficients. This enables us (or rather, our c…
We observe that the classical Faulhaber's theorem on sums of odd powers also holds for an arbitrary arithmetic progression, namely, the odd power sums of any arithmetic progression $a+b, a+2b, ..., a+nb$ is a polynomial in $na+n(n+1)b/2$. While this assertion can be deduced from the original Fauhalber's theorem, we give an alternative formula in terms of the Bernoulli polynomials. Moreover, by utilizing the central factorial numbers as in the approach of Knuth, we derive formulas for $r$-fold sums of powers without resorting to the notion of $r$-reflexive functions. We also provide formulas fo…
In the 1995 paper entitled "Noncommutative symmetric functions," Gelfand, et. al. defined two noncommutative symmetric function analogues for the power sum basis of the symmetric functions, along with analogues for the elementary and the homogeneous bases. They did not consider the noncommutative symmetric power sum duals in the quasisymmetric functions, which have since been explored only in passing by Derksen and Malvenuto-Reutenauer. These two distinct quasisymmetric power sum bases are the topic of this paper. In contrast to the simplicity of the symmetric power sums, or the other well kno…
The literature on Dedekind sums is vast. In this expository paper we show that there is a common thread to many generalizations of Dedekind sums, namely through the study of lattice point enumeration of rational polytopes. In particular, there are some natural finite Fourier series which we call Fourier-Dedekind sums, and which form the building blocks of the number of partitions of an integer from a finite set of positive integers. This problem also goes by the name of the `coin exchange problem'. Dedekind sums have enjoyed a resurgence of interest recently, from such diverse fields as topolo…
We give a purely combinatorial proof for a two-fold generalization of van der Waerden-Brauer's theorem and Hindman's theorem. We also give tower bounds for a finite version of it.
In a recent beautiful but technical article, William Y.C. Chen, Qing-Hu Hou, and Doron Zeilberger developed an algorithm for finding and proving congruence identities (modulo primes) of indefinite sums of many combinatorial sequences, namely those (like the Catalan and Motzkin sequences) that are expressible in terms of constant terms of powers of Laurent polynomials. We first give a leisurely exposition of their elementary but brilliant approach, and then extend it in two directions. The Laurent polynomials may be of several variables, and instead of single sums we have multiple sums. In fact…
Spivey presented a new approach to evaluate combinatorial sums by using finite differences. We present some closed forms for sums involving the binomial coefficients, Fibonacci and Lucas numbers in terms of the falling factorial.
By applying p-adic integral on the set of p-adic integers in [27] (Interpolation Functions for New Classes Special Numbers and Polynomials via Applications of p-adic Integrals and Derivative Operator, Montes Taurus J. Pure Appl. Math. 3 (1), ...--..., 2021 Article ID: MTJPAM-D-20-00000), we constructed generating function for the special numbers and polynomials involving the following combinatorial sum and numbers: y(n,λ)=\sum_{j=0}^{n}\frac{(-1)^{n}}{(j+1)λ^{j+1}\left(λ-1\right) ^{n+1-j}} The aim of this paper is to use the numbers y(n,λ) to derive some new and novel identities and formulas a…
We classify the connection between $t$-cores and self-conjugate $t$-cores to sums of squares. To do so, we provide explicit maps between $t$-core partitions and self-conjugate $t$-core partitions of a positive integer $n$ to representations of certain numbers as sums of squares. For example, the self-conjugate $4$-core partition $λ=(4,1,1,1)$ corresponds uniquely to the solution $61=6^2+5^2$. As a corollary, we completely classify the relationship between $t$-cores and Hurwitz class numbers. Using these tools, we see how certain sets of representations as sums of squares naturally decompose in…
We develop the theory of weighted P-partitions, which generalises the theory of P-partitions from labelled posets to weighted labelled posets. We define the related generating functions in the natural way and compute their product, coproduct and other properties. As an application we introduce the basis of combinatorial power sums for the Hopf algebra of quasisymmetric functions and the reverse basis, both of which refine the power sum symmetric functions. These bases share many properties with the type 1 and type 2 quasisymmetric power sums introduced by Ballantine, Daugherty, Hicks, Mason an…
Recently, Chu studied some properties of the partial sums of the sequence $P^k(F_n)$, where $P(F_n)=\big(\sum_{i=1}^nF_i\big)_{n\geq1}$ and $(F_n)_{n\geq1}$ is the Fibonacci sequence, and gave its combinatorial interpretation. We generalize those results, introduce colored Schreier sets, and give another equivalent combinatorial interpretation by means of lattice path.
Following Benjamin et al., a matrix with entries being sums of two neighbouring Catalan numbers is considered. Its LU-decomposition is given, by guessing the results and later prove it by computer algebra, with lots of human help. Specializing a parameter, the determinant turns out to be a Fibonacci number with odd index, confirming earlier results, obtained back then by combinatorial methods.
We present a necessary condition for $(\ell-1)$-connected combinatorial $(2\ell +1)$-manifolds to be tight. As a corollary, we show that there is no tight combinatorial three-manifold with Betti number at most two other than the boundary of the four-simplex and the nine-vertex triangulation of the three-dimensional Klein bottle.
A combinatorial rectangle may be viewed as a matrix whose entries are all +-1. The discrepancy of an m by n matrix is the maximum among the absolute values of its m row sums and n column sums. In this paper, we investigate combinatorial rectangles with minimum discrepancy (0 or 1 for each line depending on the parity). Specifically, we get explicit formula for the number of matrices with minimum L^infinity-discrepancy up to 4 rows, and establish the order of magnitude of the number of such matrices with m rows and n columns while m is fixed and n approaches infinity. By considering the number …
We develop a theory of multigraded (i.e., $N^l$-graded) combinatorial Hopf algebras modeled on the theory of graded combinatorial Hopf algebras developed by Aguiar, Bergeron, and Sottile [Compos. Math. 142 (2006), 1--30]. In particular we introduce the notion of canonical $k$-odd and $k$-even subalgebras associated with any multigraded combinatorial Hopf algebra, extending simultaneously the work of Aguiar et al. and Ehrenborg. Among our results are specific categorical results for higher level quasisymmetric functions, several basis change formulas, and a generalization of the descents-to-pea…
Recently, Guo and Zeng discovered two families of polynomials featuring in a q-analogue of Faulhaber's formula for the sums of powers and a q-analogue of Gessel-Viennot's formula involving Salie's coefficients for the alternating sums of powers. In this paper, we show that these are polynomials with symmetric, nonnegative integral coefficients by refining Gessel-Viennot's combinatorial interpretations.
Small ball inequalities have been extensively studied in the setting of Gaussian processes and associated Banach or Hilbert spaces. In this paper, we focus on studying small ball probabilities for sums or differences of independent, identically distributed random elements taking values in very general sets. Depending on the setting--abelian or nonabelian groups, or vector spaces, or Banach spaces--we provide a collection of inequalities relating different small ball probabilities that are sharp in many cases of interest. We prove these distribution-free probabilistic inequalities by showing th…
In a recent work, Andrews gave analytic proofs of two conjectures concerning some variations of two combinatorial identities between partitions of a positive integer into odd parts and partitions into distinct parts discovered by Beck. Subsequently, using the same method as Andrews, Chern presented the analytic proof of another Beck's conjecture relating the gap-free partitions and distinct partitions with odd length. However, the combinatorial interpretations of these conjectures are still unclear and required. In this paper, motivated by Glaisher's bijection, we give the combinatorial proofs…
In this paper we confirm a conjecture of Sun which states that each positive integer is a sum of a square, an odd square and a triangular number. Given any positive integer m, we show that p=2m+1 is a prime congruent to 3 modulo 4 if and only if T_m=m(m+1)/2 cannot be expressed as a sum of two odd squares and a triangular number, i.e., p^2=x^2+8(y^2+z^2) for no odd integers x,y,z. We also show that a positive integer cannot be written as a sum of an odd square and two triangular numbers if and only if it is of the form 2T_m (m>0) with 2m+1 having no prime divisor congruent to 3 modulo 4.
In this paper we study mixed sums of primes and linear recurrences. We show that if m=2(mod 4) and m+1 is a prime then $(m^{2^n-1}-1)/(m-1)\not=m^n+p^a$ for any n=3,4,... and prime power p^a. We also prove that if a>1 is an integer, u_0=0, u_1=1 and u_{i+1}=au_i+u_{i-1} for i=1,2,3,..., then all the sums u_m+au_n (m,n=1,2,3,...) are distinct. One of our conjectures states that any integer n>4 can be written as the sum of an odd prime, an odd Fibonacci number and a positive Fibonacci number.
Following the method of combinatorial telescoping for alternating sums given by Chen, Hou and Mu, we present a combinatorial telescoping approach to partition identities on sums of positive terms. By giving a classification of the combinatorial objects corresponding to a sum of positive terms, we establish bijections that lead a telescoping relation. We illustrate this idea by giving a combinatorial telescoping relation for a classical identity of MacMahon. Recently, Andrews posed a problem of finding a combinatorial proof of an identity on the q-little Jacobi polynomials which was derived bas…
We compute generating functions for the sum of the real-valued character degrees of the finite general linear and unitary groups, through symmetric function computations. For the finite general linear group, we get a new combinatorial proof that every real-valued character has Frobenius-Schur indicator 1, and we obtain some q-series identities. For the finite unitary group, we expand the generating function in terms of values of Hall-Littlewood functions, and we obtain combinatorial expressions for the character degree sums of real-valued characters with Frobenius-Schur indicator 1 or -1.
In this paper, we give a new bijective proof of a multiset analogue of even-odd permutations identity. This multiset version is equivalent to the original coin arrangements lemma which is a key combinatorial lemma in the Sherman's Proof of a conjecture of Feynman about an identity on paths in planar graphs related to combinatorial solution of two dimensional Ising model in statistical physics.
Given a finite set of roots of unity, we show that all power sums are non-negative integers iff the set forms a group under multiplication. The main argument is purely combinatorial and states that for an arbitrary finite set system the non-negativity of certain alternating sums is equivalent to the set system being a filter. As an application we determine all discrete Fourier pairs of $\{0,1\}$-matrices. This technical result is an essential step in the classification of $R$-matrices of quantum groups.
In this talk we introduce several topics in combinatorial number theory which are related to groups; the topics include combinatorial aspects of covers of groups by cosets, and also restricted sumsets and zero-sum problems on abelian groups. A survey of known results and open problems on the topics is given in a popular way.
We consider the class of "well-tempered" integer-valued scoring games, which have the property that the parity of the length of the game is independent of the line of play. We consider disjunctive sums of these games, and develop a theory for them analogous to the standard theory of disjunctive sums of normal-play partizan games. We show that the monoid of well-tempered scoring games modulo indistinguishability is cancellative but not a group, and we describe its structure in terms of the group of normal-play partizan games. We also classify Boolean-valued well-tempered scoring games, showing …
A combinatorial Hopf algebra is a graded connected Hopf algebra over a field $F$ equipped with a character (multiplicative linear functional) $ζ:H\to F$. We show that the terminal object in the category of combinatorial Hopf algebras is the algebra $QSym$ of quasi-symmetric functions; this explains the ubiquity of quasi-symmetric functions as generating functions in combinatorics. We illustrate this with several examples. We prove that every character decomposes uniquely as a product of an even character and an odd character. Correspondingly, every combinatorial Hopf algebra $(H,ζ)$ possesses …
In this paper, we give a combinatorial proof of a positivity result of Chern related to Andrews's $\mathcal{EO}^*$-type partitions. This combinatorial proof comes after reframing Chern's result in terms of copartitions. Using this new perspective, we also reprove an overpartition result of Chern by showing that it comes essentially "for free" from our combinatorial proof and some basic properties of copartitions. Finally, the application of copartitions leads us to more general positivity conjectures for families of both infinite and finite products, with a proof in one special case.
Recently several authors have proved results on Ehrhart series of free sums of rational polytopes. In this note we treat these results from an algebraic viewpoint. Instead of attacking combinatorial statements directly, we derive them from structural results on affine monoids and their algebras that allow conclusions for Hilbert and Ehrhart series. We characterize when a binomial regular sequence generates a prime ideal or even normality is preserved for the residue class ring.
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.
We use Sidon sets to present an elementary method to study some combinatorial problems in finite fields, such as sum product estimates, solubility of some equations and distribution of sequences in small intervals. We obtain classic and more recent results avoiding the use of exponential sums, the usual tool to deal with these problems.
The combination of the group ring setting with the methods of character theory allows an elegant and powerful analysis of various combinatorial structures, via their character sums. These combinatorial structures include difference sets, relative difference sets, partial difference sets, bent functions, hyperplanes, spreads, and LP-packings. However, the literature on these techniques often relies on peculiar conventions and implicit understandings that are not always readily accessible to those new to the subject. While there are many excellent advanced sources describing these techniques, we…
In this paper we settle long-standing questions regarding the combinatorial complexity of Minkowski sums of polytopes: We give a tight upper bound for the number of faces of a Minkowski sum, including a characterization of the case of equality. We similarly give a (tight) upper bound theorem for mixed faces of Minkowski sums. This has a wide range of applications and generalizes the classical the Upper Bound Theorems of McMullen and Stanley. Our main tool is relative Stanley--Reisner theory, a powerful generalization of the algebraic theory of simplicial complexes inaugurated by Hochster, Reis…
Fibonacci numbers can be expressed in terms of multinomial coefficients as sums over integer partitions into odd parts. We use this fact to introduce a family of double inequalities involving the generating function for the number of partitions into odd parts and the generating function for the number of odd divisors.
We study multiplicative nested sums, which are generalizations of harmonic sums, and provide a calculation through multiplication of index matrices. Special cases interpret the index matrices as stochastic transition matrices of random walks on a finite number of sites. Relations among multiplicative nested sums, which are generalizations of relations between harmonic series and multiple zeta functions, can be easily derived from identities of the index matrices. Combinatorial identities and their generalizations can also be derived from this computation.
Let $q=p^n$ with $n=2m$ and $p$ be an odd prime. Let $0\leq k\leq n-1$ and $k\neq m$. In this paper we determine the value distribution of following exponential(character) sums \[\sum\limits_{x\in \bF_q}ζ_p^{\Tra_1^m (αx^{p^{m}+1})+\Tra_1^n(βx^{p^k+1})}\quad(α\in \bF_{p^m},β\in \bF_{q})\] and \[\sum\limits_{x\in \bF_q}ζ_p^{\Tra_1^m (αx^{p^{m}+1})+\Tra_1^n(βx^{p^k+1}+\ga x)}\quad(α\in \bF_{p^m},β,\ga\in \bF_{q})\] where $\Tra_1^n: \bF_q\ra \bF_p$ and $\Tra_1^m: \bF_{p^m}\ra\bF_p$ are the canonical trace mappings and $ζ_p=e^{\frac{2πi}{p}}$ is a primitive $p$-th root of unity. As applications: (…
Let $(F_n)_{n\ge 1}$ be the Fibonacci sequence. Define $P(F_n): = (\sum_{i=1}^n F_i)_{n\ge 1}$; that is, the function $P$ gives the sequence of partial sums of $(F_n)$. In this paper, we first give an identity involving $P^k(F_n)$, which is the resulting sequence from applying $P$ to $(F_n)$ $k$ times. Second, we provide a combinatorial interpretation of the numbers in $P^k(F_n)$.
The original knapsack problem is well known to be NP-complete. In a multidimensional version one have to decide whether a $p\in \N^k$ is in a sumset-sum of a set $X \subseteq \N^k$ or not. In this paper we are going to investigate a communication complexity problem related to this.
