cp's OEIS Frontend

The divergent series g(x,m) = Sum_{k >= 1} (-1)^(k+1)*k^m*k!*x^k, m >= -1, are related to the higher order exponential integrals E(x,m,n=1), see A163931.

Hardy, see the link below, describes how Euler came to the rather surprising conclusion that g(x,-1) = exp(1/x)*Ei(1,1/x) with Ei(1,x) = E(x,m=1,n=1). From this result it follows inmediately that g(x,0) = 1 - g(x,-1). Following in Euler's footsteps we discovered that g(x,m) = (-1)^(m) * (M(x,m)*x - ST(x,m)* Ei(1,1/x) * exp(1/x))/x^(m+1), m => -1.

So g(x=1,m) = (-1)^m*(A040027(m) - A000110 (m+1)*A073003), with A040027(m = -1) = 0. We observe that A073003 = - exp(1)*Ei(-1) is Gompertz's constant, A000110 are the Bell numbers and A040027 was published a few years ago by Gould.

The polynomial coefficients of the M(x,m) = Sum_{k = 0..m} a(m,k) * x^k, for m >= 0, lead to the triangle given above. We point out that M(x,m=-1) = 0.

The polynomial coefficients of the ST(x,m) = Sum_{k = 0..m+1} S2(m+1, k) * x^k, m >= -1, lead to the Stirling numbers of the second kind, see A106800.

The formulas that generate the coefficients of the left hand columns lead to the Minkowski numbers A053657. We have a closer look at them in A163972.

The right hand columns have simple generating functions, see the formulas. We used them in the first Maple program to generate the triangle coefficients (n >= 0 and 0 <= k <= n). The second Maple program calculates the values of g(x,m) for m >= -1, at x=1.

See comment in A175669.

Consider sequence of sequences of polynomials {Q^(0)_m(x)}, {Q^(1)_m(x)},...,{Q^(r)_m(x)},..., such that in every sequence m=0,1,...

Sequence {Q^(r)m(x)} is defined by the recursion: Q^(r)_0(x)=1; for m>=1 and integer x=n, Q^(r)_m(n)=sum{i=1,...,n}i^rQ^(r)(m-1)(i). By the induction, we see that polynomial Q^(r)_m(x) has degree (r+1)*m. Note that Q^(0)_m(n) is C(n+m-1,m), Q^(1)_m(n)=S(n+m,n), where S(k,l) are Stirling numbers of the second kind. Thus Q^(r)_m(x) is an r-generalization of binomial coefficients and Stirling numbers of the second kind. Moreover, for every r, LCM of denominators of the coefficients of Q^(r)_m(x) generate sequences of factorial type which possess important arithmetic properties. For r=0, it is n!, for r=1, it is A053657, for r=2,3,4 we obtain A202367, A202368, A202369. Denote the general term of the sequence corresponding to a given r by n!^(r) and, for 0<=m<=n, denote C^(r)(n,m)=n!^(r)/(m!^(r)*(n-m)!^(r). Then, for the "r-Pascal triangle", we have the following conjectural regularity: if a prime p==1 mod r, then the ((p-1)/r)-th row contains two 1's and numbers multiple of p. Cf. triangles A202917, A202941.

Conjecture. If p is an odd prime, then the ((p-1)/2)-th row contains two 1's and (p-3)/2 numbers multiple of p.

See also comments in A175669 and A202917.

The a(n,p) polynomials, see below with the extra p for the column number, generate the coefficients of the left hand columns of triangle A163940. These polynomials are interesting in their own right. They have many curious properties; e.g., for p >= 1: a(n=1, p) = p, a(n=0, p) = 0, a(n = -1, p) = (-1)^(p+1), a(n=-2,p) = (-1)^(p+1)*(2)^(p-2) and a(n = -(2*p+1), 2*p) = 0, which is the outermost zero of the a(n, 2*p); for p >= 10: a(n=-10, p) = -362880*10^(p-10); etc.

The numbers in the denominators of the a(n,p) are the Minkowski numbers A053657.

The Maple program generates the coefficients of the polynomials that appear in the numerators of the a(n,p), see the sequence above. We have made use of a nice little program that Peter Luschny recently wrote for the Minkowski numbers! For the an(p,k) in the Maple program for p >= 1 we have 0 <= k <= (2*p-2). A word of caution: The value of nmax has to be chosen sufficiently large in order to let Maple find the o.g.f.s.

The zero patterns of the a(n,p) polynomials resemble the Montezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum). A famous Montezuma Cypress is 'El Arbol del Tule' (the Tule tree) in Mexico. It is the second stoutest tree in the world, circumference 36 meters, and is approximately 1500 years old. Considering this I propose to call the a(n,p) polynomials the MC polynomials.

The row sums equal n*A053657(n). [Johannes W. Meijer, Nov 29 2012]

There is an integer sequence b(n) = A053657(n)/2^(n-1) = 1, 1, 6, 6, 360, 360, 45360, 45360, 5443200, 5443200,... which consists of the duplicated entries of A202367.

The ratios of this sequence are b(n+1)/b(n) = 1, 6, 1, 60, 1, 126 .... = a(n)/2, which is a variant of A036283.

See comment in A175669.

See comment in A175669.

Given a subset S of the integers Z, Bhargava has shown how to associate with S a generalized factorial function, denoted n!_S, sharing many properties of the classical factorial function n! (which corresponds to the choice S = Z). In particular, he shows that the generalized binomial coefficients n!_S/(k!_S*(n-k)!_S) are always integral for any choice of S.

Here we take S = {2,3,5,7,...} the set of primes.

The generalized factorial n!S is given by the formula n!_S = Product{primes p} p^(floor(n/(p-1)) + floor(n/(p^2-p)) + floor(n/(p^3-p^2)) + ...), and appears in the database as n!_S = A053657(n) for n>=1. We make the convention that 0!_S = 1.

See A186432 for the generalized Pascal triangle associated with the set of squares.