Congruence properties of the \(m\)-ary partition function (Q2545536)

Let \(b(m;n)\) denote the number of partitions of \(n\) into powers of \(m\). \textit{R. F. Churchhouse} [Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 55, 371--376 (1969; Zbl 0182.06904)] conjectured that \[ b(2;2^{r+2}n-b(2^rn\equiv 2^{\mu(r)}\pmod {2^{\mu(r)+1}},\tag{1} \] where \(\mu(r)=[(3r+4)/2]\). He also conjectured that a similar congruence holds for \(b(m;m^{r+1}n) - b(m;m^rn)\). \textit{Ø. J. Rødseth} [Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 68, 447--453 (1970; Zbl 0206.01905)] proved (1) and showed that for each odd prime \(p\), \(b(p;p^{r+1}n) - b(p;p^rn)\equiv 0\pmod {p^r}.\) \textit{H.~Gupta} [Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 71, 343--345 (1972; Zbl 0225.10008)] also proved (1). This paper is devoted to proving that for each \(m>1\), \[ b(m;m^{r+1}n) - b(m; m^rn)\equiv 0\pmod {\mu^r}, \] where \(\mu = m\) if \(m\) is odd and \(\mu = m/2\) if m is even.