pith. sign in

arxiv: 1709.06187 · v2 · pith:4NPQGYS2new · submitted 2017-09-18 · 🧮 math.CO · math.AC

On Bergeron's positivity problem for q-binomial coefficients

classification 🧮 math.CO math.AC
keywords bergeronbinomcoefficientsconjecturepolynomialalwaysapplicationasked
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

F. Bergeron recently asked the intriguing question whether $\binom{b+c}{b}_q -\binom{a+d}{d}_q$ has nonnegative coefficients as a polynomial in $q$, whenever $a,b,c,d$ are positive integers, $a$ is the smallest, and $ad=bc$. We conjecture that, in fact, this polynomial is also always unimodal, and combinatorially show our conjecture for $a\le 3$ and any $b,c\ge 4$. The main ingredient will be a novel (and rather technical) application of Zeilberger's KOH theorem.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.