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for questions about sequences and series, e.g. convergence, closed form expressions, etc. Note that there is a different tag for spectral sequences, and also note that MathOverflow is not for homework. Please consider consulting the online encyclopedia for integer sequences, if you are trying to identify a given sequence that you have found in your research.

9 votes

Method to evaluate an infinite sum of ratio of Gamma functions (how does Mathematica do it?)

This is a special case of Watson's Theorem $$\def\h{\frac{1}{2}} \def\g#1{\Gamma(#1)\,} {}_3F_2\left({a,\ b,\ c\atop\h a+\h b+\h, 2c }\biggm| 1 \right) =\frac{\g\h\g{c+\h}\g{\h a+\h b +\h}\g{c+\h -\ …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
5 votes

Non-arithmetic proof of the integrality of a rational expression

The integrality of the coefficients of $(1-k^2x)^{-1/k}$ follows from the integrality of the coefficients of the generalized Catalan number generating function $$c_k(x)=\frac{1-(1-k^2 x)^{1/k}}{kx},$$ …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
2 votes

Upper bound for an infinite series of Pochhammer Symbol

The sum is $r/(1-\alpha)^{(1+r/\alpha)}$ by the binomial theorem.
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
50 votes
Accepted

New binomial coefficient identity?

In terms of hypergeometric series, the sum is $_3F_2(-n, 1+n, 1/2;1,3/2;1)$ and the identity is a special case of Saalschütz's theorem (also called the Pfaff-Saalschütz theorem), one of the standard h …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Sum of products of exponentials and polynomials

Let $S(N,a,k)= \sum_{n=0}^N a^n n^k$. Multiplying by $x^k/k!$ and summing on $k$ gives the exponential generating function $$\sum_{k=0}^\infty S(N,a,k) \frac{x^k}{k!}= \frac{(ae^x)^{N+1}-1}{ae^x-1}.$$ …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
24 votes

power series of the reciprocal... does a recursive formula exist for the coefficients

Without loss of generality we can take $b_0$ to be 1, since \begin{equation*}\sum_{n=0}^\infty b_n x^n = b_0\biggl( 1+\sum_{n=1}^\infty (b_n/b_0)x^n\biggr). \end{equation*} Then for $b_0=1$ we have \ …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
2 votes

An explicit representation for polynomials generated by a power of $x/\sin(x)$

This is really a comment rather than an answer, but it's too long for a comment. Here's a simple proof that the coefficients of the polynomials $d_k(n)$ are positive. We have $$\left(\frac{x}{\sin x} …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

Infinite sum of Laguerre polynomials: is $\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{n!}{(k+n)!}x^kL_n^k(x)^2=...

Everything becomes simpler if add some parameters and start the sum at $k=-n$ instead of $k=0$. Note that if $k$ is a negative integer with $-n\le k \le -1$ then $L_n^k(x)$ is a polynomial in $x$ divi …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
32 votes
Accepted

Integrality of a sequence formed by sums

Let $A(x) = \sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n x^n$ and let $$S(x) = \sum_{k=0}^\infty (7k+8)\frac{(3k+1)!}{k!\,(2k+3)!} x^k.$$ Then the formula for $a_n$ gives $A(x) = R(x)S(x)$, where $$R(x) = \frac{1}{3}\biggl( …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
4 votes

Integrality of a sequence formed by sums

Here is another proof, inspired by Tewodros Amdeberhan's. We represent the sum as a constant term in a power series. To represent $(7k+8) \frac{(3k+1)!}{k!\,(2k+3)!}$ as a constant term, we need to ex …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
1 vote

Evaluating a sinusoidal series

Here's a formula for $A_{nk}$: $$A_{nk} = (-1)^{n-k}2^{k-2n} \frac{(2n-k)!}{k!\,(n-k)!}.$$ This can be proved by standard methods for proving binomial coefficient identities.
Ira Gessel's user avatar
7 votes

Recreation with Catalan

Here's a sketch of a generating function proof. Recall that \begin{equation*} \sum_{m=0}^\infty \binom{2m+k}{m} x^m =\frac{c(x)^k}{\sqrt{1-4x}}, \end{equation*} where $c(x) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty C_n x^n …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
23 votes

Does the formal power series solution to $f(f(x))= \sin( x) $ converge?

This is also a comment. There's another reasonably efficient way to do this sort of computation. Let $L$ be the linear operator on formal power series defined by $L(g) = g(\sin x)$. (Instead of $\sin …
Ira Gessel's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Name for series $\sum f_n x^n / (n! (n+k)!)$

No, there is no name for this kind of generating function, except in the case $k=0$, when they are called “doubly exponential generating functions”. I do not know of any applications for $k>0$.
Ira Gessel's user avatar

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