scientific article; zbMATH DE number 166138

The parities of the binomial coefficients show fractal like appearance when plotted in the {\(x\)-\(y\)} plane. If \(f(n,k)\) is some counting sequence and \(p\) is a prime, plot an asterisk at \((n,k)\) if \(f(n,k)\not\equiv 0\pmod p\) and a blank otherwise to get other complex and interesting pattern. For the ordinary and Gaussian binomial coefficients and for Stirling numbers of the second kind formulas for the number of asterisks in each column are known and in each row the pattern is periodic. Let \({n\brack k}\) denote the signless Stirling numbers of the first kind, then for fixed \(k\) and \(p\) there are only finitely many \(n\) for which \({n\brack k}\not\equiv 0\pmod p\), i.e. there are only finitely many asterisks in each row, let \(\nu(n,k)\) be the number of these. A nonnegative integer \(n\) is special modulo \(p\) if \(n\text{ mod }p+{n\brack p}\leq p-1\) and let \(N_ p\) be the set of all special integers modulo \(p\), write \(N_ p(x)=\sum_{n\in N_ p} x^ n\). Finally define the finite sequence \(C_ p\) by \(C_ p(0)=1\), \(C_ p(i)=|\bigl\{n\leq p-1: {n\brack i}\not\equiv 0\pmod p\bigr\}|\) \((1\leq i\leq p-1)\) and \(C_ p(x)=\sum C_ p(i) x^ i\). The following results are proved: (1) The number \(\nu(k,p)\) for \(n\geq 0\) such that \({n\brack r}\not\equiv 0\pmod p\) is given by \[ \sum_{k\geq 0} \nu(k,p) x^ k=C_ p(x)\prod_{j\geq 0} N_ p(x^{p^ j}). \] (2) Let \(k\geq 0\) be a fixed integer and \(p\) a prime. Then the following two sets are equinumerous: (a) The set of all \(j\leq k/(p-1)\) for which \({k-(p-1)j\choose j}\not\equiv 0\pmod p\) and (b) The set of all partitions of integer \(k\) into parts that are powers of \(p\) and the multiplicity of each part is special modulo \(p\). A bijective proof of (2) is also given.

Recommendations

Cited in

(5)

This page was built for publication:

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4033753)