Proposed by Michael Poghosyan, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia.

Prove that for any positive integer, n,

n n 2


X
k 24n (n!)4
2n = (2n)!(2n + 1)! . (1)


k=0
(2k + 1) 2k

Solution: (by Ángel Plaza and Sergio Falcón, University of Las

Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35017-Las Palmas G.C., Spain)

Note that the proposed identity may be written as

n n 2


X
k 24n
= (2)
(2k + 1) 2n


2
k=0 2k (2n + 1) 2n
n

Since:
(n!)2
n 2 2n · (2n)!


  
k (k!)2 ((n−k)!)2 (n!)2 2k 2n − 2k
2n

n = (2n)!
=
2k
k n−k
(2k)!(2n−2k)!

Equation (2) is equivalent to:

 n 2k 2n−2k



24n

2n X k n−k
= (3)
n k=0 2k + 1 2n + 1
By using the falling factorial powers of real x defined by xk =
x(x − 1) . . . (x − k + 1), where x0 = 1 yields [1, Eq.(5.36)]:
   .
m − 1/2 2m
= 22n ,
m m
and therefore:
   
2m m − 1/2 2m
= 2
m m

Hence, Equation (3) is equivalent to:

n n
n−k
1 X (k − 12 )k n − k − 21

n!
n− = (4)
2 k=0
(2k + 1)k!(n − k)! 2n + 1

1

n+1
n
n−k
k
Now, since n + 21 = n + 21 12 = n + 21 k + 21 k − 12 ,


n−k k
1 (n+ 21 ) (k− 21 )
then 2k+1 = n , so we get
(n+ 21 )
h
i2
1 k 1 n−k

1 n−k


1 n n k− n−k− n+


n− 2
X 2 2 2 n!
1 n

· =
n+ 2 k=0
k!(n − k)! 2n + 1
(5)
n
(n− 1 ) 1
Note that n+ 12 n = 2n+1 , so we have:
( 2)
h
k i2
n−k
n−k
Xn k − 21 n − k − 21 n + 21
= n! (6)
k=0
k!(n − k)!
1 k −1 k



Now we use k − 2
= 2
(−1)k , to obtain:

n   
" k #2  
n−k  n−k
X n 1
= (n!)2
−1 k −1 n−k
(−1) (−1) n+
k=0
k 2 2 2
n   
" k #2  n−k  n−k
X n 1
(−1)k = (n!)2
n −1 −1
(−1) n+
k=0
k 2 2 2

And the last equation follows from the Pfaff formula:

n  
X n
(a1 )k (a2 )k (b1 )n−k (b2 )n−k (−1)k = (a1 + b1 )n (a2 + b1 )n (−1)n
k=0
k
where a1 + a2 + b1 + b2 = n − 1.

In our case, a1 = a2 = b1 = −1
2
, and b2 = n + 21 .

References

[1] R. L. Graham, D. E. Knuth, and O. Patashnik, Concrete Math-

ematics. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. Second Ed. (1998).