Some new qq-congruences for truncated basic hypergeometric series

We provide several new $q$-congruences for truncated basic hypergeometric series, mostly of arbitrary order. Our results include congruences modulo the square or the cube of a cyclotomic polynomial, and in some instances, parametric generalizations thereof. These are established by a variety of techniques including polynomial argument, creative microscoping (a method recently introduced by the first author in collaboration with Zudilin), Andrews' multiseries generalization of the Watson transformation, and induction. We also give a number of related conjectures including congruences modulo the fourth power of a cyclotomic polynomial.Comment: 14 pages, more background and references adde

Wolstenholme's theorem: Its Generalizations and Extensions in the last hundred and fifty years (1862--2012)

In 1862 Wolstenholme proved that for any prime $p\ge 5$ the numerator of the fraction $$1+\frac 12 +\frac 13+...+\frac{1}{p-1}$$ written in reduced form is divisible by $p^2$, $(2)$ and the numerator of the fraction $$1+\frac{1}{2^2} +\frac{1}{3^2}+...+\frac{1}{(p-1)^2}$$ written in reduced form is divisible by $p$. The first of the above congruences, the so called {\it Wolstenholme's theorem}, is a fundamental congruence in combinatorial number theory. In this article, consisting of 11 sections, we provide a historical survey of Wolstenholme's type congruences and related problems. Namely, we present and compare several generalizations and extensions of Wolstenholme's theorem obtained in the last hundred and fifty years. In particular, we present more than 70 variations and generalizations of this theorem including congruences for Wolstenholme primes. These congruences are discussed here by 33 remarks. The Bibliography of this article contains 106 references consisting of 13 textbooks and monographs, 89 papers, 3 problems and Sloane's On-Line Enc. of Integer Sequences. In this article, some results of these references are cited as generalizations of certain Wolstenholme's type congruences, but without the expositions of related congruences. The total number of citations given here is 189.Comment: 31 pages. We provide a historical survey of Wolstenholme's type congruences (1862-2012) including more than 70 related results and 106 references. This is in fact version 2 of the paper extended with congruences (12) and (13

Artin's primitive root conjecture -a survey -

This is an expanded version of a write-up of a talk given in the fall of 2000 in Oberwolfach. A large part of it is intended to be understandable by non-number theorists with a mathematical background. The talk covered some of the history, results and ideas connected with Artin's celebrated primitive root conjecture dating from 1927. In the update several new results established after 2000 are also discussed.Comment: 87 pages, 512 references, to appear in Integer

Factors of binomial sums from the Catalan triangle

By using the Newton interpolation formula, we generalize the recent identities on the Catalan triangle obtained by Miana and Romero as well as those of Chen and Chu. We further study divisibility properties of sums of products of binomial coefficients and an odd power of a natural number. For example, we prove that for all positive integers $n_1, ..., n_m$, $n_{m+1}=n_1$, and any nonnegative integer $r$, the expression $$n_1^{-1}{n_1+n_{m}\choose n_1}^{-1} \sum_{k=1}^{n_1}k^{2r+1}\prod_{i=1}^{m} {n_i+n_{i+1}\choose n_i+k}$$ is either an integer or a half-integer. Moreover, several related conjectures are proposed.Comment: 15 pages, final versio