OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
Suppose n identical objects are distributed in 3*n labeled baskets, 2*n colored white and n colored black. White baskets can contain any number of objects (or be empty), while black baskets must contain an even number of objects (or be empty). a(n) is the number of distinct possible distributions.
Number of nonnegative integer solutions to n = x_1 + x_2 + ... + x_(2*n) + 2*y_1 + 2*y_2 + ... + 2*y_n.
The Gauss congruences a(n*p^k) == a(n*p^(k-1)) (mod p^k) hold for all primes p and positive integers n and k.
Calculation suggests that, in fact, stronger congruences may hold.
Conjecture: the supercongruences a(n*p^k) == a(n*p^(k-1)) (mod p^(3*k)) hold for all primes p >= 5 and positive integers n and k.
More generally, let r and s be integers and define a sequence (a(r,s;n))n>=1 by a(r,s;n) = [x^n] ( (1 + x)^r * (1 - x)^s )^n.
Conjecture: for each r and s the above supercongruences hold for the sequence (a(r,s;n))n>=1.
The present sequence is the case r = -1 and s = -3. Other cases include A000984 (r = 2, s = 0), A001700 with offset 1 (r = 0, s = -1), A002003 (r = 1, s = -1), A091527 (r = 3, s = -1), A119259 (r = 2, s = -1), A156894 (r = 1, s = -2), A165817 (r = 0, s = -2), A234839 (r = 1, s = 2), A348410 (r = -1, s = -2) and A351857 (r = -2, s = -4).
REFERENCES
R. P. Stanley, Enumerative Combinatorics Volume 2, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1999, Theorem 6.33, p. 197.
LINKS
Paolo Xausa, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..1000
FORMULA
a(n) = Sum_{k = 0..floor(n/2)} binomial(3*n-2*k-1,n-2*k)*binomial(n+k-1,k).
a(n) = Sum_{k = 0..n} (-1)^k*binomial(4*n-k-1,n-k)*binomial(n+k-1,k).
a(n) = binomial(4*n-1,n)*hypergeom([n, -n], [1-4*n], -1).
48*n*(n-1)*(3*n-1)*(3*n-2)*(93*n^3-434*n^2+668*n-339)*a(n) = 12*(n-1)*(21762*n^6-134199*n^5+323805*n^4-386685*n^3+237728*n^2-70336*n+7680)*a(n-1) + 5*(5*n-9)*(5*n-8)*(5*n-7)*(5*n-6)*(93*n^3-155*n^2+79*n-12)*a(n-2) with a(1) = 2 and a(2) = 12.
The o.g.f. A(x) = 2*x + 12*x^2 + 74*x^3 + ... is the diagonal of the bivariate rational function x*t/(1 - t/((1 - x)^2*(1 - x^2))) and hence is an algebraic function over Q(x) by Stanley 1999, Theorem 6.33, p. 197.
A(x) = x*d/dx(log(F(x)), where F(x) = (1/x)*Series_Reversion( x*(1 - x)^2*(1 - x^2) ).
a(n) ~ sqrt(4 + sqrt(6)) * (13/4 + 31*sqrt(6)/18)^n / (2*sqrt(5*Pi*n)). - Vaclav Kotesovec, Mar 15 2022
EXAMPLE
n = 2: 12 distributions of 2 identical objects in 4 white and 2 black baskets
White Black
1) (0) (0) (0) (0) [2] [0]
2) (0) (0) (0) (0) [0] [2]
3) (2) (0) (0) (0) [0] [0]
4) (0) (2) (0) (0) [0] [0]
5) (0) (0) (2) (0) [0] [0]
6) (0) (0) (0) (2) [0] [0]
7) (1) (1) (0) (0) [0] [0]
8) (1) (0) (1) (0) [0] [0]
9) (1) (0) (0) (1) [0] [0]
10) (0) (1) (1) (0) [0] [0]
11) (0) (1) (0) (1) [0] [0]
12) (0) (0) (1) (1) [0] [0]
Examples of supercongruences:
a(7) - a(1) = 154352 - 2 = 2*(3^2)*(5^2)*(7^3) == 0 (mod 7^3);
a(2*11) - a(2) = 1105047483656041080 - 12 = (2^2)*3*(11^3)*13*101*103*2441* 209581 == 0 (mod 11^3).
MAPLE
seq(add( binomial(3*n-2*k-1, n-2*k)*binomial(n+k-1, k), k = 0..floor(n/2)), n = 1..25);
MATHEMATICA
nterms=25; Table[Sum[Binomial[3n-2k-1, n-2k]Binomial[n+k-1, k], {k, 0, Floor[n/2]}], {n, nterms}] (* Paolo Xausa, Apr 10 2022 *)
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,easy
AUTHOR
Peter Bala, Mar 14 2022
STATUS
approved