Congruences via Abelian groups (Q1065843)

This paper is an exposition of the general method of using group actions to derive congruences. The basis of the method is the fact that if a finite group G acts on a finite set of objects then the number of objects with trivial stabilizer is divisible by \(| G|\). This leads, via the inclusion-\(exclusion\) principle, to a congruence mod \(| G|\) connecting the numbers of objects that are stabilized by each subgroup of G. The result is an attractive, unified approach to a wide range of congruences, particularly those connecting combinatorially-\(defined\) numbers. Often the set used is secondary, consisting of partitions or colourings, for example, of some primary set, and the action of G is induced by an action on the primary set. The author uses the method to establish a number of congruences for binomial and multinomial coefficients, Stirling numbers and Bell numbers, numbers of preferential arrangements and numbers of involutions and derangements in symmetric groups. The majority are known congruences, but some are new. Some of the standard congruences of number theory appear as particular cases.