Questions tagged [combinatorial-identities]
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26
questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
45
votes
0
answers
3k
views
A = B (but not quite); 3-d arrays with multiple recurrences
Many years ago, I discovered the remarkable array (apparently originally discovered by Ramanujan)
1
1 3
2 10 15
6 40 105 105
24 196 700 1260 945
...
18
votes
0
answers
745
views
Two curious series for $1/\pi$
On Jan. 18, 2012 I conjectured that for any prime $p>3$ we have
$$R_p^2\equiv\frac1{10}\left(512\left(\frac{10}p\right)-27\left(\frac{-15}p\right)-475\right)\pmod p,$$
where $(\frac{\cdot}p)$ ...
12
votes
0
answers
497
views
$q$-analogue of the multinomial theorem?
The $q$-binomial theorem states that
$$
\prod_{k=0}^{n-1}(1+q^kt) = \sum_{k=0}^n q^{\binom k2}{n\brack k}_q t^k.
$$
This identity is a $q$-analogue of the binomial theorem
$$
(1+t)^n = \sum_{k=0}^n \...
10
votes
0
answers
490
views
New series for $\zeta(5)$ involving second-order harmonic numbers
In 1997 T. Amdeberhan and D. Zeilberger proved that
$$\sum_{k=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^k(205k^2-160k+32)}{k^5\binom{2k}k^5}=-2\zeta(3).\tag{1}$$
In 2008 J. Guillera obtained that
$$\sum_{k=1}^\infty\frac{(...
10
votes
0
answers
342
views
A bijective proof for the odd companion to Shapiro's Catalan convolution
Shapiro's Catalan convolution is the following formula (where $C_n$ is the $n$th Catalan number):
$$
\sum_{k=0}^{n}{C_{2k}C_{2(n-k)}}=4^nC_n.
$$
In other words, letting $C(z)=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}{C_nz^...
9
votes
0
answers
191
views
For $q$-analogues of a known curious identity
In 2002 I published the folllowing curious combinatorial identity:
$$(x+m+1)\sum_{i=0}^m(-1)^i\binom{x+y+i}{m-i}\binom{y+2i}i-\sum_{i=0}^m\binom{x+i}{m-i}(-4)^i=(x-m)\binom xm.$$
My original proof is ...
8
votes
0
answers
315
views
A hypergeometric series for $\sqrt3\pi$ with converging rate $1/9$
Recently, I found a (conjectural) new series for $\sqrt3\pi$:
$$\sum_{k=1}^\infty\frac{(8k-3)\binom{4k}{2k}}{k(4k-1)9^k\binom{2k}k^2}=\frac{\sqrt3\pi}{18}.\label{1}\tag{1}$$
The series converges fast ...
6
votes
0
answers
221
views
A curious series for $L(2,(\frac{-3}{\cdot}))$
Let
$$K:=L\left(2,\left(\frac{-3}{\cdot}\right)\right)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty\frac{(\frac k3)}{k^2}=\sum_{j=0}^\infty\left(\frac1{(3j+1)^2}-\frac1{(3j+2)^2}\right),$$ where $(\frac k3)$ is the Legendre ...
6
votes
0
answers
282
views
A new series for $\sqrt3/\pi$?
Recently, I conjectured the following identity:
$$\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{(66k^2+37k+4)\binom{2k}k\binom{3k}k\binom{4k}{2k}}{(2k+1)729^k}=\frac{27\sqrt3}{2\pi}.\tag{1}$$
This can be easily checked ...
5
votes
0
answers
338
views
Sum over permutations involving sign
The problem is to evaluate the following sum over all permutations $\sigma\in S_{d}$ of $\{1,2,...,d\}$:
$\displaystyle\sum_{\sigma\in S_{d}}\text{sgn}(\sigma)\displaystyle\frac{1}{\prod_{i=1}^{d}(\...
5
votes
0
answers
344
views
When does a triangle of numbers have a zero row sum?
Suppose we have a triangle of numbers defined by the recurrence relation
$$\left| n \atop k \right| = f(n,k) \left| n-1 \atop k \right| +g(n,k) \left| n-1 \atop k-1 \right| + [n=k=0],$$
for some ...
4
votes
0
answers
92
views
"Convolving" a general Catalan with classical Catalan
Consider what is sometimes known as generalized Catalan sequence
$$\mathcal{{\color{red}C}}_{a,b}:=\frac{2b+1}{a+b+1}\binom{2a}{a+b}.$$
Observe that $\mathcal{{\color{red}C}}_{n,0}$ reduces to the ...
4
votes
0
answers
200
views
Extract this constant term
Given a Laurent polynomial $F$ in the variables $\mathbf{t}=(t_1,\dots,t_n)$, let $CT_{\vec{\mathbf{t}}}\,F$ denote its constant term.
For example, $CT_{t_1,t_2}((8t_1-\frac1{3t_1t_2})(5t_1t_2+t_2^2+\...
4
votes
0
answers
214
views
Curious double sum identity
The following identity seems to hold for $a>1$ :
$$\sum_{m=1}^\infty \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{ \frac{a^m}{m}\left( \frac{a^m}{m}+ \frac{a^n}{n} \right) } = \frac{a^2}{2(a-1)^4}$$
I've tested ...
4
votes
0
answers
222
views
For a combinatorial proof of a symmetric identity
In my paper Supercongruences involving dual sequences [Finite Fields Appl. 46(2017), 179-216], I gave a new symmetric identity which states that if $x+y=-1$ then
$$\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^k\binom xk^2\binom{...
4
votes
0
answers
312
views
Generalization of Tamarkin’s ARO 1993, final round, problem 10/8: part II
Let us use the notations of my previous question about Tamarkin's problem.
Let $\ell\in\left\lbrace 0,1,...,p\right\rbrace$.
An element $f\in \mathbb Z^{\mathbb Z}$ is said to be $\ell$-average-...
3
votes
0
answers
172
views
Equality of determinants: a direct justification request
Let $I_k$ denote the enumeration of involutions among permutations in $\mathfrak{S}_k$. Here is yet another cute finding for which I ask a:
Question. Is there a direct proof (or interpretation or ...
2
votes
0
answers
194
views
For human proofs of two novel combinatorial identities
For $n=0,1,2,\ldots$, let us define the polynomial
$$S_n(x):=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{x/2}k\binom{(x-1)/2}k\binom{-(x+1)/2}{n-k}\binom{-(x+2)/2}{n-k}.$$
Such polynomials occur in some series for $1/\pi$ ...
2
votes
0
answers
347
views
Reflection formula for the Hurwitz zeta function and odd zeta values
A reflection formula for the Hurwitz zeta function, which does not seem to be well known, uses half of the polynomials generated by $\frac{1}{-1+\sqrt{t-1}\cot(\sqrt{t-1}u)}$. (Look at the sections "...
2
votes
0
answers
153
views
system of complex number equations
Let $a_1,a_2,a_3,a_4\in \mathbb{C}$ be distinct such that
$$a_1^3+a_2^3+a_3^3+a_4^3=0$$
$$(1+|a_1|^2)a_1^2+(1+|a_2|^2)a_2^2+(1+|a_3|^2)a_3^2+(1+|a_4|^2)a_4^2=0$$
$$(1+2|a_1|^2+2|a_1|^4)a_1+(1+2|a_2|^...
2
votes
0
answers
186
views
Multiplying three factorials with three binomials in polynomial identity
I have checked the following identity (1) below for $n\leq 40$ with a computer.
Let $(n)_k$ denote the falling factorial $n(n-1)\ldots (n-k+1)$, let
$Z_n=\sum_{k=0}^n (n)_k x^{n-k}$, and finally let
$...
2
votes
1
answer
667
views
Transfinite sums related to a sequence
Given a sequence $S$ indexed by the finite ordinals, a limit ordinal $\alpha$, and $k \in \mathbb{N}$, define $S_{\alpha+k}$(the extension of $S$ to $\alpha+k$) to be the sum over the products of all $...
1
vote
0
answers
512
views
Two conjectural identities involving $\zeta(3)$ and the golden ratio $\phi$
Let $\phi$ be the famous golden ratio $\frac{\sqrt5+1}2$, and let
$\zeta(3)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac1{n^3}.$
In 2014, in the paper
Zhi-Wei Sun, New series for some special values of $L$-functions, ...
1
vote
0
answers
113
views
In search of multiple expressions for a sequence
The sequence $a_n=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{n}k^24^k$ is listed on OEIS along with a couple of combinatorial interpretations. What interested me at the moment is the plethora of binomial single-sums for the ...
0
votes
0
answers
225
views
Looking for a combinatorial proof of an identity
I've come up with an interesting combinatorial identity (thanks to P. Belmans who precomputed the numbers and pointed out to me that they correspond to OEIS A002697):
$$
\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}\binom{n+1-i}{...
0
votes
0
answers
256
views
An alternating sum involving a product of binomial coefficients
I encountered the sum below, where $c_{1}$, $c_{2}$, $c_{3}$, $c_{4}$ and $d$ are some given positive constants. Does anyone have an idea how to simplify it?
$$
\sum\limits_{k=1}^{d} \frac{(-1)^{k-1}k}...