Catalan Identity – How to Find a Combinatorial Proof

binomial-coefficientscatalan-numbersco.combinatoricsreference-request

Let $C_n=\frac1{n+1}\binom{2n}n$ be the familiar Catalan numbers.

QUESTION. Is there a combinatorial or conceptual justification for this identity?
$$\sum_{k=1}^n\left[\frac{k}n\binom{2n}{n-k}\right]^2=C_{2n-1}.$$

Best Answer

By the ballot theorem, $\frac{k}{n} \binom{2n}{n+k}$ is the number of Dyck paths, i.e. $(1,1), (1,-1)$-walks in the quadrant, from the origin to $(2n-1, 2k-1)$. You need to concatenate a pair of those to get a Dyck path to $(4n-2,0)$, and $k$ takes values between 1 and $n$.

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