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T. Amdeberhan
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A rather curious identity on sums over triple binomial terms

While exploring the Baxter sequences from my earlier MO post, I obtained a rather curious identity (not listed on OEIS either). I usually try to employ the Wilf-Zeilberger (WZ) algorithm to justify such claims. To my surprise, WZ offers two different recurrences for each side of this identity.

So, I would like to ask:

QUESTION. Is there a conceptual or combinatorial reason for the below equality? $$\frac1n\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{n+1}k\binom{n+1}{k+1}\binom{n+1}{k+2} =\frac2{n+2}\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{n+1}k\binom{n-1}k\binom{n+2}{k+2}.$$

Remark. Of course, one gets an alternative formulation for the Baxer sequences themselves: $$\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\frac{\binom{n+1}k\binom{n+1}{k+1}\binom{n+1}{k+2}}{\binom{n+1}1\binom{n+1}2} =\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\frac{\binom{n+1}k\binom{n-1}k\binom{n+2}{k+2}}{\binom{n+1}1\binom{n+2}2}.$$

T. Amdeberhan
  • 43.2k
  • 5
  • 57
  • 217