We pose the question of what is the best generalization of the factorial and the binomial coefficient. We give several examples, derive their combinatorial properties, and demonstrate their interrelationships.
On cherche ici à déterminer est la meilleure généralisation possible des factorielles et des coefficients du binôome. On s'interesse à plusieurs exemples, à leurs propriétés combinatoires, et aux differentes relations qu'ils mettent en jeu.
The purpose of this paper is to study some binomial coefficients which are related to the evaluation of tan(nx). We present a connection between these binomial coefficients and the coefficients of a family of derivative polynomials for tangent and secant.
In this short note, we establish some identities containing sums of binomials with coefficients satisfying third order linear recursive relations. As a result and in particular, we obtain general forms of earlier identities involving binomial coefficients and Fibonacci type sequences.
In 1992, Loeb considered a natural extension of the binomial coefficients to negative entries and gave a combinatorial interpretation in terms of hybrid sets. He showed that many of the fundamental properties of binomial coefficients continue to hold in this extended setting. Recently, Formichella and Straub showed that these results can be extended to the $q$-binomial coefficients with arbitrary integer values and extended the work of Loeb further by examining arithmetic properties of the $q$-binomial coefficients. In this paper, we give an alternative combinatorial interpretation in terms of…
We prove two new forms of Jacobi-type J-fraction expansions generating the binomial coefficients, $\binom{x+n}{n}$ and $\binom{x}{n}$, over all $n \geq 0$. Within the article we establish new forms of integer congruences for these binomial coefficient variations modulo any (prime or composite) $h \geq 2$ and compare our results with existing known congruences for the binomial coefficients modulo primes $p$ and prime powers $p^k$. We also prove new exact formulas for these binomial coefficient cases from the expansions of the $h^{th}$ convergent functions to the infinite J-fraction series gener…
The middle binomial coefficients can be interpreted as numbers of Motzkin paths which have no horizontal steps at positive heights. Assigning suitable weights gives some nice polynomial extensions. We determine the Hankel determinants and their generating functions for the middle binomial coefficients and derive many conjectures for their polynomial extensions. Finally, we explore experimentally some modifications of the middle binomial coefficients whose Hankel determinants show an interesting modular pattern and obtain some q-analogs.
We present various identities in the form of convolutions involving Stirling numbers of both kinds, Lah numbers, and binomial coefficients. Certain convolution polynomials are discussed also. The proofs are based on several series transformation formulas.
We define recursive harmonic numbers as a generalization of harmonic numbers. The table of recursive harmonic numbers, which is like Pascal's triangle, is constructed. A formula for recursive harmonic numbers containing binomial coefficients is also presented.
The definition of the binomial coefficient in terms of gamma functions also allows non-integer arguments. For nonnegative integer arguments the gamma functions reduce to factorials, leading to the well-known Pascal triangle. Using a symmetry formula for the gamma function, this definition is extended to negative integer arguments, making the symmetry identity for binomial coefficients valid for all integer arguments. The agreement of this definition with some other identities and with the binomial theorem is investigated.
This short paper is concerned with the enumeration of permutations avoiding the following four patterns: $2431$, $4231$, $1432$ and $4132$. Using a bijective construction, we prove that these permutations are counted by the central binomial coefficients.
In this paper, the formal derivative operator defined with respect to context-free grammars is used to prove some properties about binomial coefficients and multifactorial numbers. In addition, we extend the formal derivative operator to matrix grammars and show that multifactorial numbers can also be generated.
The article describes prime intervals into the prime factorization of the middle binomial coefficient. Prime factors and prime powers are distributed in layers. Each layer consists of non-repeated prime numbers which are chosen (not calculated) from the noncrossing prime intervals. Repeated factors are formed when primes are duplicated among different layers.
When searching for Calabi.Yau differential equations, often different formulas for the coefficients give the same differential equation. The coefficients are usually sums (simple, double or triple) of products of binomial coefficients. This results in numerous binomial identities.
We prove strict unimodality of the q-binomial coefficients \binom{n}{k}_q as polynomials in q. The proof is based on the combinatorics of certain Young tableaux and the semigroup property of Kronecker coefficients of S_n representations.
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.
We find the joint distribution of three simple statistics on lattice paths of n upsteps and n downsteps leading to a triple sum identity for the central binomial coefficient {2n}-choose-{n}. We explain why one of the constituent double sums counts the irreducible pairs of compositions considered by Bender et al., and we evaluate some of the other sums.
We present a decomposition of the generalized binomial coefficients associated with Jack polynomials into two factors: a stem, which is described explicitly in terms of hooks of the indexing partitions, and a leaf, which inherits various recurrence properties from the binomial coefficients and depends exclusively on the skew diagram. We then derive a direct combinatorial formula for the leaf in the special case where the two indexing partitions differ by at most two rows. This formula also exhibits an unexpected symmetry with respect to the lengths of the two rows.
In this paper, we present an algorithm which allows us to search for all the bisections for the binomial coefficients $\{\binom{n}{k} \}_{k=0,...,n}$ and include a table with the results for all $n\le 154$. Connections with previous work on this topic is included. We conjecture that the probability of having only trivial solutions is $5/6$. \end{abstract}
We obtain new combinatorial identities for integral values of binary Krawtchouk polynomials $K^{2m}_p(x)$, $0\le p\le 2m$, by computing the characters of the $p$-exterior representations on certain elements of order 2 of $\mathrm{SO}(2m)$. From this identities, we deduce several new relations for binomial coefficients and Catalan numbers.
We extend the polynomial approach to hook length formula proposed in a recent joint paper with Károlyi, Nagy and Volkov to several other problems of the same type, including number of paths formula in the Young graph of strict partitions.
We suggest an upper bound on binomial coefficients that holds over the entire parameter range and whose form repeats the form of the de Moivre-Laplace approximation of the symmetric binomial distribution. Using the bound, we estimate the number of continuations of a given Boolean function to bent functions, investigate dependencies into the Walsh-Hadamard spectra, obtain restrictions on the number of representations as sum of squares of integers bounded in magnitude.
Using generating functions and some trivial bijections, we show in this paper that the binomial coefficients count the set of (123,132) and (123,213)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings. We also define a q-tableau of power of two and prove that it counts the set of (213,312) and (132,312)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings.
In this paper, we deal with the problem of bisecting binomial coefficients. We find many (previously unknown) infinite classes of integers which admit nontrivial bisections, and a class with only trivial bisections. As a byproduct of this last construction, we show conjectures Q2 and Q4 of Cusick and Li. We next find several bounds for the number of nontrivial bisections and further compute (using a supercomputer) the exact number of such bisections for n <= 51.
The aim of this paper is to present a general algebraic identity. Applying this identity, we provide several formulas involving the q-binomial coefficients and the q-harmonic numbers. We also recover some known identities including an algebraic identity of D. Y. Zheng on q-Apéry numbers and we establish the q-analog of Euler's formula. The proposed results may have important applications in the theory of q-supercongruences.
We deliver here second new $\textit{H(x)}-binomials'$ recurrence formula, were $H(x)-binomials' $ array is appointed by $Ward-Horadam$ sequence of functions which in predominantly considered cases where chosen to be polynomials . Secondly, we supply a review of selected related combinatorial interpretations of generalized binomial coefficients. We then propose also a kind of transfer of interpretation of $p,q-binomial $ coefficients onto $q-binomial$ coefficients interpretations thus bringing us back to $Gy{ö}rgy Pólya $ and Donald Ervin Knuth relevant investigation decades ago.
We study logarithmic integrals of the form $\int_0^1 x^i\ln^n(x)\ln^m(1-x)dx$. They are expressed as a rational linear combination of certain rational numbers $(n,m)_i$, which we call tiered binomial coefficients, and products of the zeta values $ζ(2)$, $ζ(3)$,\dots. Various properties of the tiered binomial coefficients are established. They involve, amongst others, the binomial transform, truncated multiple zeta and multiple zeta star values, as well as special functions. As an application we discuss the limit law of the number of comparisons of the Quicksort algorithm: we reprove that the m…
A combinatorial identity that was needed in Ahlgren and Ono's proof of a certain congruence conjecture of Frits Beukers is stated, and a pointer to its WZ proof is given.
We provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the unimodality of a convolution of two sequences of binomial coefficients preceded by a finite number of ones. These convolution sequences arise as as rank sequences of posets of vertex-induced subtrees for a particular class of trees. The number of such trees whose poset of vertex-induced subgraphs containing the root is not rank unimodal is determined for a fixed number of vertices $i$.
There is no field with only one element, yet there is a well-defined notion of what projective geometry over such a field means. This notion is familiar to experts and plays an interesting role behind the scenes in combinatorics and algebra, but it is rarely discussed as such. The purpose of this article is to bring it to the attention of a broader audience, as the solution to a puzzle about Gaussian binomial coefficients.
We prove exact asymptotic expansions for the partial sums of the sequences of central binomial coefficients and Catalan numbers, $\sum_{k=0}^n \binom{2k}{k}$ and $\sum_{k=0}^n C_n$. We also obtain closed forms for the polynomials $\sum_{k=0}^{q-1}\binom{2k}{k}x^k$ and $\sum_{k=0}^{q-1}C_kx^k$ over the field of $p$ elements, where $q$ is a power of the prime $p$.
Using a property of the q-shifted factorial, an identity for q-binomial coefficients is proved, which is used to derive the formulas for the q-binomial coefficient for negative arguments. The result is in agreement with an earlier paper about the normal binomial coefficient for negative arguments. Some new q-binomial summation identities are derived, and the formulas for negative arguments transform some of these summation identities into each other. One q-binomial summation identity is transformed into a new q-binomial summation identity.
In this paper we discuss a class of double sums involving ratios of binomial coefficients. The sums are of the form \[ \sum_{j=0}^{n} \sum_{i=0}^j \frac{\binom{f_1(n)}{i}}{\binom{f_2(n)}{j}}\,c^{i-j}, \] where $f_1, f_2$ are functions of $n$. Such sums appear in the analyses of the Mabinogion urn and the Ehrenfest urn in probability. Using hypergeometric functions, we are able to simplify these sums, and in some cases express them in terms of the harmonic numbers.
$q$-analogues of quantities in mathematics involve perturbations of classical quantities using the parameter $q$, and revert to the original quantities when $q$ goes $1$. An important example is the $q$-analogues of binomial coefficients which give the number of $k$-dimensional subspaces in $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$. When $q$ goes to $1$, this reverts to the binomial coefficients which measure the number of $k$-sets in $\left [ n \right ]$. Dot-analogues of $q$-binomial coefficients were studied by Yoo (2019) in order to investigate combinatorics of quadratic spaces over finite fields. The number o…
We give a $q$-analogue of some binomial coefficient identities of Y. Sun [Electron. J. Combin. 17 (2010), #N20] as follows: {align*} \sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor}{m+k\brack k}_{q^2}{m+1\brack n-2k}_{q} q^{n-2k\choose 2} &={m+n\brack n}_{q}, \sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor n/4\rfloor}{m+k\brack k}_{q^4}{m+1\brack n-4k}_{q} q^{n-4k\choose 2} &=\sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor}(-1)^k{m+k\brack k}_{q^2}{m+n-2k\brack n-2k}_{q}, {align*} where ${n\brack k}_q$ stands for the $q$-binomial coefficient. We provide two proofs, one of which is combinatorial via partitions.
In this paper, we use the generalized q-polynomials with double q-binomial coefficients and homogeneous q-operators [J. Difference Equ. Appl. 20 (2014), 837--851.] to construct q-difference equations with seven variables, which generalize recent works of Jia et al [Symmetry 2021, 13, 1222.]. In addition, we derive Rogers formulas, extended Rogers formulas and Srivastava--Agarwal type bilinear generating functions for generalized q-polynomials, which generalize generating functions for Cigler's polynomials [J. Difference Equ. Appl. 24 (2018), 479--502.]. Finally, we also derive mixed generating…
Pak and Panova recently proved that the $q$-binomial coefficient ${m+n \choose m}_q$ is a strictly unimodal polynomial in $q$ for $m,n \geq 8$, via the representation theory of the symmetric group. We give a direct combinatorial proof of their result by characterizing when a product of chains is strictly unimodal and then applying O'Hara's structure theorem for the partition lattice $L(m,n)$. In fact, we prove a stronger result: if $m, n \geq 8d$, and $2d \leq r \leq mn/2$, then the $r$-th rank of $L(m,n)$ has at least $d$ more elements that the next lower rank.
We define an overpartition analogue of Gaussian polynomials (also known as $q$-binomial coefficients) as a generating function for the number of overpartitions fitting inside the $M \times N$ rectangle. We call these new polynomials over Gaussian polynomials or over $q$-binomial coefficients. We investigate basic properties and applications of over $q$-binomial coefficients. In particular, via the recurrences and combinatorial interpretations of over q-binomial coefficients, we prove a Rogers-Ramaujan type partition theorem.
We prove a conjecture of Liu and Wang on the q-log-convexity of the polynomial sequence $\{\sum_{k=0}^n{n\choose k}^2q^k\}_{n\geq 0}$. By using Pieri's rule and the Jacobi-Trudi identity for Schur functions, we obtain an expansion of a sum of products of elementary symmetric functions in terms of Schur functions with nonnegative coefficients. Then the principal specialization leads to the q-log-convexity. We also prove that a technical condition of Liu and Wang holds for the squares of the binomial coefficients. Hence we deduce that the linear transformation with respect to the triangular arra…
Let s and t be variables. Define polynomials {n} in s, t by {0}=0, {1}=1, and {n}=s{n-1}+t{n-2} for n >= 2. If s, t are integers then the corresponding sequence of integers is called a Lucas sequence. Define an analogue of the binomial coefficients by C{n,k}={n}!/({k}!{n-k}!) where {n}!={1}{2}...{n}. It is easy to see that C{n,k} is a polynomial in s and t. The purpose of this note is to give two combinatorial interpretations for this polynomial in terms of statistics on integer partitions inside a k by n-k rectangle. When s=t=1 we obtain combinatorial interpretations of the fibonomial coeffic…
We propose higher-order generalizations of Jacobsthal's $p$-adic approximation for binomial coefficients. Our results imply explicit formulae for linear combinations of binomial coefficients $\binom{ip}{p}$ ($i=1,2,\dots$) that are divisible by arbitrarily large powers of prime $p$.
We study the distribution of the extended binomial coefficients by deriving a complete asymptotic expansion with uniform error terms. We obtain the expansion from a local central limit theorem and we state all coefficients explicitly as sums of Hermite polynomials and Bernoulli numbers.
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.
Loeb showed that a natural extension of the usual binomial coefficient to negative (integer) entries continues to satisfy many of the fundamental properties. In particular, he gave a uniform binomial theorem as well as a combinatorial interpretation in terms of choosing subsets of sets with a negative number of elements. We show that all of this can be extended to the case of Gaussian binomial coefficients. Moreover, we demonstrate that several of the well-known arithmetic properties of binomial coefficients also hold in the case of negative entries. In particular, we show that Lucas' Theorem …
