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Prime numbers, diophantine equations, diophantine approximations, analytic or algebraic number theory, arithmetic geometry, Galois theory, transcendental number theory, continued fractions

25 votes
Accepted

Can a Bell number be a power of 2?

No. It's easy to see that $B_n=4$ is impossible, and $B_n$ is never divisible by 8. This follows from the fact that $B_n$ is periodic modulo 8 with period 24. See, e.g., W. F. Lunnon, P. A. B. Pleasan …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
22 votes

Fibonacci series captures Euler $e=2.718\dots$

More generally, $$\sum_{k=0}^\infty F_{n+k} \frac{x^k}{k!} = e^x\sum_{k=0}^\infty F_{n-k}\frac{x^k}{k!},\tag{1}$$ which is equivalent to Will Sawin's identity. Similarly, $$e^x\sum_{k=0}^\infty F_{n+k …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
18 votes
Accepted

Arithmetic problem for bicolored graphs

This follows from the fact that for any prime $p$, and any integer $n\ge0$, we have $b_{n+p}\equiv b_{n+1} \pmod p$. This can be proved by a straightforward, though not very interesting, computation, …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
18 votes
Accepted

A particular combinatorial proof of Wilson's theorem

According to Dickson's History of the Theory of Numbers, this proof was first found by J. Petersen, Tidsskrift for Mathematik (3), 2, 1872, 64-5. (Petersen divides everything by 2, but the idea is the …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
17 votes

Analogue of Fermat's "little" theorem

Here's a straightforward proof, using generating functions, though it's not as elegant as Ofir's. We have $$ \sum_{a=0}^\infty\binom{a}{j}x^a =\frac{x^j}{(1-x)^{j+1}}. $$ Setting $j=(p-1)k$ and summin …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
16 votes

Show that this ratio of factorials is always an integer

Here are two comments. First, the formula $f(m,n) = (-1)^m 4^{m+n}\binom{m-1/2}{m+n}$ noted by Douglas Zare should be $$f(m,n) = (-1)^n 4^{m+n}\binom{m-1/2}{m+n}.$$ (The mistake is in my paper.) It …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

A combinatorial identity involving harmonic numbers

First we prove the formula $$\sum_{k=0}^n (-1)^k\binom{n}{k}\binom {x+k}{k} = (-1)^n\binom xn,\tag{1}$$ which is special case of Vandermonde's theorem: $$\begin{aligned} \sum_{k=0}^n (-1)^k\binom{n}{k …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
638 views

A conjecture on binomial coefficients and roots of unity

Is the following true? Let $p$ be a prime and let $w$ be a $(p-1)$st root of unity (not necessarily primitive). Then $$\binom{w}{n}=\frac{w(w-1)\cdots(w-n+1)}{n!}$$ is $p$-integral; i.e., it can be ex …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Identity with Pochhammer and harmonic numbers

Here's a sketch of a proof using "creative telescoping." Let $$T(i,j) = \frac{j!^2}{(\tfrac12)_j^2}\cdot \frac{(\tfrac12)_i^2}{i!^2}\frac1{j-i}.$$ Since the identity holds for $j=1$, it suffices to …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
10 votes

Asking for a proof for a sum of products of binomials: an "interesting" identity?

The sum can be expressed in terms of hypergeometric series as $$(n+1)\binom{2n}{n}\binom{2n+1}{n}\,{}_3F_2\left({-n,\,\tfrac12,\,\tfrac12\atop -n+\tfrac12,\tfrac32}\biggm| 1\right).$$ This means that …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Double q-analog of Pochhammer

This product appears in permutation enumeration. See, for example, D. P. Roselle, Coefficients associated with the expansion of certain products (DOI), Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 45 (1974), 144-150.
Ira Gessel's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Congruence for complementary Bell numbers

The definition of the complementary Bell numbers should be $$B_1(n):=\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^kS(n,k).$$ Define the polynomials $B_n(x)$ by $$B_n(x)=\sum_{k=0}^nx^kS(n,k),$$ so $B_1(n) = B_n(-1)$. These pol …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
7 votes

Implications of a relation on algebraic numbers

This is a consequence of American Mathematical Monthly problem E2993 (1983, p. 287), proposed by Michael Larsen. Solutions by A. A. Jagers and me can be found in American Mathematical Monthly 93 (1986 …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
7 votes

Seeking a combinatorial proof for a binomial identity

Here are some observations, though not quite a combinatorial proof of the identity in question. Let $A(m,n)$ be the value of the sums. Let $B(m,n)=(-1)^m A(m, m+n)$. Then $B(m,n)$ is nonnegative for a …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
7 votes

Is this a new Fibonacci Identity?

"Vajda's identity" is really Tagiuri's identity: A. Tagiuri, Di alcune successioni ricorrenti a termini interi e positivi, Periodico di Matematica 16 (1900–1901), 1–12. See also https://math.stackexch …
Ira Gessel's user avatar

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