Density and Symmetry in the Generalized Motzkin Numbers mod $p$

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kohen, Nadav
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910787538255872
author Kohen, Nadav
author_facet Kohen, Nadav
contents We give a formula for the density of $0$ in the sequence of generalized Motzkin numbers, $M^{a, b}_n$, modulo a prime, $p$, in terms of the first $p$ generalized central trinomial coefficients $T^{a, b}_n\bmod p$ (with $n<p$). We apply our method to various other sequences to obtain similar formulas. We also prove that $T^{a, b}_{p-1-n}\equiv (b^2-4a^2)^{\frac{p-1}{2}-n}T^{a, b}_n\pmod p$ to obtain tight lower bounds for the density of $0$ in our sequences. This symmetry of the first $p$ central trinomial coefficients mod $p$ also appears in a couple of other applications, including the proof of a novel symmetry of the first $p-2$ Motzkin numbers that is of independent interest: $M^{a, b}_{p-3-n}\equiv (b^2-4a^2)^{\frac{p-3}{2}-n}M^{a, b}_n\pmod p$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_03681
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Density and Symmetry in the Generalized Motzkin Numbers mod $p$
Kohen, Nadav
Combinatorics
Number Theory
11B05, 11B50 (Primary) 68R15, 05A15, 11B85 (Secondary)
We give a formula for the density of $0$ in the sequence of generalized Motzkin numbers, $M^{a, b}_n$, modulo a prime, $p$, in terms of the first $p$ generalized central trinomial coefficients $T^{a, b}_n\bmod p$ (with $n<p$). We apply our method to various other sequences to obtain similar formulas. We also prove that $T^{a, b}_{p-1-n}\equiv (b^2-4a^2)^{\frac{p-1}{2}-n}T^{a, b}_n\pmod p$ to obtain tight lower bounds for the density of $0$ in our sequences. This symmetry of the first $p$ central trinomial coefficients mod $p$ also appears in a couple of other applications, including the proof of a novel symmetry of the first $p-2$ Motzkin numbers that is of independent interest: $M^{a, b}_{p-3-n}\equiv (b^2-4a^2)^{\frac{p-3}{2}-n}M^{a, b}_n\pmod p$.
title Density and Symmetry in the Generalized Motzkin Numbers mod $p$
topic Combinatorics
Number Theory
11B05, 11B50 (Primary) 68R15, 05A15, 11B85 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.03681