Combinatorics – Proving Infinite Rows of Pascal’s Triangle with Only Odd Numbers

binomial-coefficientscombinatoricsmodular arithmetic

This is exercise number $59$ from Chapter $2$ of Hugh Gordon's Discrete Probability.

Show that there are infinitely many rows of Pascal's Triangle that consist entirely of odd numbers.

Intuitively, if you draw boxes around the numbers in Pascal's triangle and color the boxes black if the number is odd and white if the number is even, then the triangle will look like the Sierpinsky triangle as you zoom out.

In particular, if we number the rows starting with the top as $1$, the rows will all odd numbers will be exactly the rows with number $2^n$ for some $n \in \mathbb{N}$ (or $n=0$ for the first). You can see this if you think about the Sierpinsky triangle coloring.

Anyway, is there any direct way to show the following for all $k$ with $0 \leq k \leq 2^n-1$?

$$\binom{2^n-1}{k} \equiv 1 \pmod{2}$$

This can probably be done by induction but a direct proof would be preferable.

Best Answer

Modulo $2$,

$$(1+x)^{2^n-1} = \frac{(1+x)^{2^n}}{1+x} = \frac{1+x^{2^n}}{1+x}=1+x+x^2+ \dots + x^{2^n-1}. \qquad\blacksquare$$


Also, modulo an odd prime $p$,

$$(1+x)^{p^n-1} = \frac{(1+x)^{p^n}}{1+x} = \frac{1+x^{p^n}}{1+x}= \frac{1-(-x)^{p^n}}{1-(-x)} = 1 - x+x^2- \dots + x^{p^n-1},$$

which shows that $${p^n-1 \choose k} \equiv (-1)^k \pmod p.$$

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