Binomial Coefficients – Conjecture on Divisibility by Factorials

binomial-coefficientsconjecturesdivisibilityfactorialprime factorization

The diagram shows Pascal's triangle down to row $10$.

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I noticed that the product of the blue numbers is divisible by the product of the orange numbers. That is (including the bottom centre number $252$ in both products),

$$\frac{\prod\limits_{k=0}^{5}\binom{10}{k}}{\prod\limits_{k=0}^5\binom{2k}{k}}=\frac{2857680000}{4233600}=675\in\mathbb{Z}.$$

Now let

$$P=\frac{\prod\limits_{k=0}^{n}\binom{2n}{k}}{\prod\limits_{k=0}^n\binom{2k}{k}}$$

According to Wolfram, for $n=1$ to $n=50$, $P$ is an integer only when $n=1,2,5$.

Is the following conjecture true or false:

$P$ is an integer only when $n=1,2,5$.

$P$ can be rewritten as

$$P=\prod\limits_{k=0}^n\frac{(2n)!k!}{(2k)!(2n-k)!}$$

but that doesn't seem to make the question easier to answer.

I did a search on the OEIS using "$1,2,5$ Pascal divisible", and found no sequence with $1,2,5$ and the next number being greater than $50$.

Context: I have been trying to unravel some of the mysteries of Pascal's triangle recently, for example with questions about random walks, three consecutive numbers and killing.

Best Answer

Preliminaries

We will use the following

Theorem (Jitsuro Nagura). There exists at least one prime number $p$ such as $$ a_m\leq n < p < \left(1+\frac{1}{m}\right)n\tag1 $$ where $m=1,2,3,4,5$ and $a_m=2,8,9,24,25$, respectively.

Proof. See "On The Interval Containing At Least One Prime Number" by Jitsuro Nagura in Proc. Japan Acad. 28(4): 177-181 (1952). DOI: 10.3792/pja/1195570997. Accessible for example here.$\square$

Proof of conjecture

Theorem. Let $n$ be a positive integer. If $$ P_n=\prod\limits_{k=0}^n\frac{(2n)!k!}{(2k)!(2n-k)!}=\prod\limits_{k=1}^n\frac{(2n)!k!}{(2k)!(2n-k)!}\tag2 $$ is an integer, then $n\in\{1,2,5\}$.

Proof. Calculation shows that if $1\leq n\leq 8$, then $P_n$ is an integer only for $n\in\{1,2,5\}$. Assume $n\geq 9$. By Nagura's theorem, there exists at least one prime $p$ with $n<p<\left(1+\frac{1}{3}\right)n$. Denote by $k_p(a)$ the number of times prime $p$ appears in the prime factorization of an integer $a$ and define $$ \begin{align} A_n&:=\prod_{k=1}^n(2n)!k!\tag3\\ B_n&:=\prod_{k=1}^n(2k)!\tag4\\ C_n&:=\prod_{k=1}^n(2n-k)!\tag5 \end{align} $$ so that $P_n=\frac{A_n}{B_nC_n}$. Now, $n<p<2n$, so $k_p(A_n)=n$. Moreover, $p<\frac{4n}{3}$, so $k_p(B_n)>\frac{n}{3}$ and $k_p(C_n)>\frac{2n}{3}$. Therefore, $k_p(B_nC_n)>n=k_p(A_n)$ and we conclude that if $n\geq 9$, then $P_n\notin\mathbb{Z}$.$\square$