The Eulerian Distribution on Involutions is Indeed Unimodal

Let I_{n,k} (resp. J_{n,k}) be the number of involutions (resp. fixed-point free involutions) of {1,...,n} with k descents. Motivated by Brenti's conjecture which states that the sequence I_{n,0}, I_{n,1},..., I_{n,n-1} is log-concave, we prove that the two sequences I_{n,k} and J_{2n,k} are unimodal in k, for all n. Furthermore, we conjecture that there are nonnegative integers a_{n,k} such that $$\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}I_{n,k}t^k=\sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor (n-1)/2\rfloor}a_{n,k}t^{k}(1+t)^{n-2k-1}.$$ This statement is stronger than the unimodality of I_{n,k} but is also interesting in its own right.Comment: 12 pages, minor changes, to appear in J. Combin. Theory Ser.

A Generalization of the Ramanujan Polynomials and Plane Trees

Generalizing a sequence of Lambert, Cayley and Ramanujan, Chapoton has recently introduced a polynomial sequence Q_n:=Q_n(x,y,z,t) defined by Q_1=1, Q_{n+1}=[x+nz+(y+t)(n+y\partial_y)]Q_n. In this paper we prove Chapoton's conjecture on the duality formula: Q_n(x,y,z,t)=Q_n(x+nz+nt,y,-t,-z), and answer his question about the combinatorial interpretation of Q_n. Actually we give combinatorial interpretations of these polynomials in terms of plane trees, half-mobile trees, and forests of plane trees. Our approach also leads to a general formula that unifies several known results for enumerating trees and plane trees.Comment: 20 pages, 2 tables, 8 figures, see also http://math.univ-lyon1.fr/~gu

Some Arithmetic Properties of the q-Euler Numbers and q-Sali\'e Numbers

For m>n\geq 0 and 1\leq d\leq m, it is shown that the q-Euler number E_{2m}(q) is congruent to q^{m-n}E_{2n}(q) mod (1+q^d) if and only if m\equiv n mod d. The q-Sali\'e number S_{2n}(q) is shown to be divisible by (1+q^{2r+1})^{\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2r+1}\right\rfloor} for any r\geq 0. Furthermore, similar congruences for the generalized q-Euler numbers are also obtained, and some conjectures are formulated.Comment: 12 pages, see also http://math.univ-lyon1.fr/~gu

Multiple extensions of a finite Euler's pentagonal number theorem and the Lucas formulas

Motivated by the resemblance of a multivariate series identity and a finite analogue of Euler's pentagonal number theorem, we study multiple extensions of the latter formula. In a different direction we derive a common extension of this multivariate series identity and two formulas of Lucas. Finally we give a combinatorial proof of Lucas' formulas.Comment: 11 pages, to appear in Discrete Mathematics. See also http://math.univ-lyon1.fr/~gu

Two truncated identities of Gauss

Two new expansions for partial sums of Gauss' triangular and square numbers series are given. As a consequence, we derive a family of inequalities for the overpartition function $\bar{p}(n)$ and for the partition function $p_1(n)$ counting the partitions of $n$ with distinct odd parts. Some further inequalities for variations of partition function are proposed as conjectures.Comment: 9 pages, final versio

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