Some combinatorial conjectures regarding the classical Chu- Vandermonde formula (Q1271873)

Translation of the author's introduction: For every pair \(x,y\) of indeterminates, the classical formula of Chu-Vandermonde asserts that \(\frac{(y-x)_n}{(y)_n}=\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^k{n\choose k}\frac{(x)_k}{(y)_k} ,\) where one denotes by \((x)_n\) the classical hypergeometric coefficient, defined by \((x)_0=1\) and, for \(n>0\), \((x)_n=x(x+1)\cdots(x+n-1)\). The purpose of this paper is to study the development of this expression in formal series, that is, to determine the coefficients \(c_{ij}(n)\) in the formula \(\frac{(y-x)_n}{(y)_n}=\sum_{i=0}^n\sum_{j=0}^\infty c_{ij}(n)\frac{x^i}{y^{i+j}}\). This problem appears to have never before been treated in the literature. Our approach rests on the introduction of two entirely new combinatorial notions. These two remarkably simple notions, which we present in Sections 2 and 3 furnish the essential tool of this article. We shall study them more deeply elsewhere [\textit{M. Lassalle}, Some combinatorial conjectures for Jack polynomials, Annals of Combinatorics 2, No. 1, 61-83 (1998); Some combinatorial conjectures for shifted Jack polynomials, Annals of Combinatorics 3 (1998)].