A congruence involving products of \(q\)-binomial coefficients (Q863289)

Let \(m\) be a positive integer and \(p\) be a prime not dividing \(2m\). In 2001 the reviewer [Acta Arith. 97, No. 1, 87--98 (2001; Zbl 0986.11009)] established the following congruence: \[ \begin{multlined} (-1)^{\frac{p-1}2\lfloor\frac m2\rfloor}\left(\frac mp\right)\left(\frac 2p\right)^{m-1}\prod_{1\leq k\leq\lfloor m/2\rfloor}\binom{p-1}{\lfloor pk/m\rfloor} \equiv 1+m\left(\frac mp\right)\left(m^{(p-1)/2}-\left(\frac mp\right)\right) \\ +\left(2\left\lfloor\frac m2\right\rfloor-m+1\right)(2^{p-1}-1)\, (\text{mod}\;p^2), \end{multlined} \] where \((\frac{\cdot}p)\) is the Legendre symbol. In the paper under review, the authors obtain a \(q\)-analogue of the above congruence of Sun. The main result (Theorem 1.1) involves products of \(q\)-binomial coefficients and it is too complicated to be stated here explicitly. For integers \(n\geq k>0\), the usual \(q\)-analogue of the binomial coefficient \(\binom nk\) is given by \[ \left[{n\atop k}\right]_{q}= \prod_{j=1}^k \frac{1-q^{n-j+1}}{1-q^j}, \] which tends to \(\binom nk\) as \(q\to1\).