Power sum and Wolstenholme's theorem

In the last post, we have learned how to derive formulas for the power summation $$S_k(n) = 1^k + 2^k + 3^k + \dots + n^k.$$

Today we will investigate some divisibility properties of the power summation $S_k(n)$. We will prove that if $p$ is a prime number and $k$ is not divisible by $p-1$ then $$S_k(p-1) = 1^k + 2^k + 3^k + \dots + (p-1)^k = 0 \pmod{p}.$$

We will also investigate the following summation $$S_{-k}(n) = \frac{1}{1^k} + \frac{1}{2^k} + \frac{1}{3^k} + \dots + \frac{1}{n^k}.$$

There is a theorem in number theory concerning this summation, it is called Wolstenholme's theorem.

Wolstenholme's Theorem. If $p$ is a prime number $>3$ then $$S_{-1}(p-1) = \frac{1}{1} + \frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{3} + \dots + \frac{1}{p-1} ~=_{Q} ~0 \pmod{p^2} $$ and $$S_{-2}(p-1) = \frac{1}{1^2} + \frac{1}{2^2} + \frac{1}{3^2} + \dots + \frac{1}{(p-1)^2} ~=_{Q} ~0 \pmod{p}.$$

We will prove a general result, that is, if $p$ is a prime number and $k$ is not divisible by $p-1$ then $$S_{-k}(p-1) = \frac{1}{1^k} + \frac{1}{2^k} + \frac{1}{3^k} + \dots + \frac{1}{(p-1)^k} ~=_{Q} ~0 \pmod{p}.$$

Power sum

Today we will learn about how to derive the formula for power summation $$S_k(n) = 1^k + 2^k + 3^k + \dots + n^k .$$


Our main tool is the following binomial identity
$$(x+y)^k = x^k + {k \choose 1} x^{k-1} y + {k \choose 2} x^{k-2} y^2 + {k \choose 3} x^{k-3} y^3 + \dots + {k \choose {k-1}} x y^{k-1} + y^k.$$

Binomial identity

As we are learning about mathematical induction, in this post, we are going to use induction to prove the following:

• formula for the Pascal's triangle $$p_{n,k} = {n \choose k} = \frac{n!}{k! (n-k)!}$$
• the binomial identity $$(x+y)^n = x^n + {n \choose 1} x^{n-1} y + {n \choose 2} x^{n-2} y^2 + \dots + {n \choose {n-2}} x^{2} y^{n-2} + {n \choose {n-1}} x y^{n-1} + y^n$$

Pascal's triangle

Today, we will look at a famous number pattern, the Pascal's number triangle.

Pascal's triangle