Forum Math.

20 (2008), 1097–1108 Forum

DOI 10.1515/FORUM.2008.050 Mathematicum
( de Gruyter 2008

Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series

Chu Wenchang*
(Communicated by Karl Strambach)

Abstract. By combining divided di¤erences with symmetric function relations, we establish two
expansion formulae which generalize the classical Taylor theorem and the Maclauren expan-
sion formula. The two q-expansion formulae due to Carlitz (1973) and Liu (2002) are also con-
tained as special cases.
2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 41A58; 05A30.

In the classical analysis, the Taylor theorem has been fundamental, which states that
for polynomials f ð yÞ, there holds

Py ð y
aÞ n d n
ð1Þ f ðyÞ ¼ f f ðxÞgjx¼a :
n¼0 n! dx n

When a ¼ 0, this reduces to the well-known Maclauren expansion formula.

In 1973, Carlitz [4] first discovered the q-analogue of the Maclauren formula by ex-
pressing any formal power series f ðyÞ in terms of rational functions. Almost thirty
years later, Liu [21] successfully generalized Carlitz’s fundamental expansion formula
to the q-analogue of the Taylor formula with an extra parameter, which finds several
important applications to basic hypergeometric series.

By combining divided di¤erences with symmetric function relations, the present pa-
per will further extend the results just-mentioned and unify them in a more general
expansion formula, which involves two arbitrary parameter sequences. Then the con-
nection with q-Lagrange inversion formulae will be discussed briefly.

* Department of Applied Mathematics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024,

P. R. China
1098 Chu Wenchang

1 Symmetric functions and inverse series relations

For a sequence of indeterminates fgk gkb0 , denote the elementary and complete sym-
metric functions (cf. Macdonald [22, §1.2]) respectively by en ðgjmÞ and hn ðgjmÞ:

P
ð2aÞ en ðgjmÞ ¼ g k1 g k2    g k n ;
0ak1 <k2 <<k n am

P
ð2bÞ hn ðgjmÞ ¼ g k1 g k2    g k n :
0ak1 ak2 aak n am

Then there hold the following inverse series relations:

P
n
ð3aÞ fn ¼ ð
1Þ k hn
k ðg j k þ eÞgk ;
k¼0

P
n
ð3bÞ gn ¼ ð
1Þ k en
k ðg j n þ e
1Þ fk :
k¼0

It is not hard to check that these inversions are equivalent to the following orthogo-
nal relation:

P
n 0; i < n;
ð
1Þ k
i hk
i ðg j i þ eÞen
k ðg j n þ e
1Þ ¼
k¼i 1; i ¼ n:

With the same g-sequence as before, define the shifted factorial by

h yjgi0 ¼ 1

and h yjgin ¼ ð1
yg0 Þð1
yg1 Þ    ð1
ygn
1 Þ for n ¼ 1; 2; . . . :

Then the orthogonal relation just displayed can be expressed equivalently in terms of
generating functions

h yjginþe
½y n
i  ¼ di; n where 0aian
h yjgiiþeþ1

where ½ y m  f ð yÞ stands for the coe‰cient of y m in formal power series f ðyÞ.

2 Complete symmetric functions and expansion formula

We first manipulate a given formal power series f ð yÞ in the following manner:
Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series 1099

P P P
n
f ðyÞ :¼ fn y n ¼ yn ð
1Þ k hn
k ðg j k þ eÞgk
nb0 nb0 k¼0

P P
¼ ð
yÞ k gk y n
k hn
k ðg j k þ eÞ:
kb0 nbk

Recall the generating function of complete symmetric functions

1 P n
k
¼ y hn
k ðg j k þ eÞ:
h yjgikþeþ1 nbk

Now rewriting (3b) as

P
k
ð4aÞ ð
1Þ k gk ¼ ð
1Þ k
j ek
j ðg j k þ e
1Þ fj
j¼0

ð4bÞ ¼ ½x k f f ðxÞhxjgikþe g

and then denoting by D0n f ðxÞ the n-th derivative of f ðxÞ with respect to x at x ¼ 0,
we derive the following expansion formula.

Theorem 1 (Generalized Maclauren expansion formula).

P
y yn
f ðyÞ ¼ ½x n f f ðxÞhxjginþe g
n¼0 h yjginþeþ1

Py y n D n f f ðxÞhxjgi
0 nþe g
¼ :
n¼0 n! h yjgi nþeþ1

When gk ¼ 0 for k A N0 , this reduces to the classical Maclauren formula.

3 Expansion formula due to Carlitz (1973)

Now we are going to show that Theorem 1 contains Carlitz’ result as special case.
Define the q-derivative operator with respect to x by

f ðxÞ
f ðqxÞ
Dx f ðxÞ :¼ and D n f ¼ DðD n
1 Þ f for n ¼ 2; 3; . . .
x

with the convention that Dx0 f ðxÞ ¼ f ðxÞ for the identity operator. By means of the
induction principle, it is not hard to prove the following explicit formulae
1100 Chu Wenchang

 
P
n n ðn
kÞ
Dxn f ðxÞ ¼ x
n q
ð2Þ
n
ð5aÞ ð
1Þ k q 2 f ðq k xÞ
k¼0 k

P
n ðq
n ; qÞk
ð5bÞ ¼ x
n qk f ðq k xÞ
k¼0 ðq; qÞk

where the Gaussian binomial coe‰cient is defined by

 
n ðq; qÞn ðq 1þn
k ; qÞk
¼ ¼
k ðq; qÞk ðq; qÞn
k ðq; qÞk

through the q-shifted factorials:

Q
n
1
ðx; qÞ0 ¼ 1 and ðx; qÞn ¼ ð1
q k xÞ for n A N:
k¼0

We have also the q-Leibniz rule for the product of two functions:

ð6aÞ Dx f f ðxÞgðxÞg ¼ f ðxÞDx gðxÞ þ gðqxÞDx f ðxÞ;

 
P
n n
ð6bÞ Dxn f f ðxÞgðxÞg ¼ q kðk
nÞ D k f ðxÞDxn
k gðq k xÞ:
k¼0 k x

Let D0 stand for the q-derivative operator with respect to x at x ¼ 0. Then we have
no di‰culty to compute the following two q-derivatives:

ðq; qÞnþe ðn
kÞ

D0k f ðxÞ ¼ fk ðq; qÞk and D0n
k ðq k lx; qÞnþe ¼ ð
q k lÞ n
k q 2
ðq; qÞkþe

where for the latter we have appealed to the q-binomial theorem

nP
þe
 
n þ e ðl Þ l
ðq k lx; qÞnþe ¼ ð
q k lÞ l q 2 x:
l¼0 l

With the g-sequence being specified by gk ¼ q k l for k A N0 , it is almost trivial to

check the following two relations
   
ð n
k
Þ n þ e n
k n þ e n
k
en
k ðg j n þ e
1Þ ¼ q 2 l and hn
k ðg j k þ eÞ ¼ l :
kþe kþe

Then we can reformulate the gn -coe‰cient displayed in (4a–4b) as

Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series 1101

P
n
ð
1Þ n gn ðq; qÞn ¼ ðq; qÞn ð
1Þ n
k en
k ðg j n þ e
1Þfk
k¼0

 

P
n n ðq; qÞnþe ðn
kÞ
¼ q kðk
nÞ fðq; qÞk fk g ð
q k lÞ n
k q 2
k¼0 k ðq; qÞkþe
 
P
n n
¼ q kðk
nÞ D0k f ðxÞD0n
k ðq k lx; qÞnþe :
k¼0 k

Applying the Leibniz rule (6b), we get a simplified expression for gn in terms of
q-derivatives

D0n f f ðxÞðlx; qÞnþe g

ð7Þ ½x n f f ðxÞhxjginþe g ¼ :
ðq; qÞn

Substituting this expression into Theorem 1, we establish the following general ex-
pansion formula.

Proposition 2 (The q-analogue of Maclauren expansion formula).

P
y y n D0n f f ðxÞðlx; qÞnþe g
f ðyÞ ¼ :
n¼0 ðq; qÞn ðly; qÞ1þnþe

When e ¼ 0 and l ¼ 1, this formula reduces to the following beautiful result dis-
covered by Carlitz (1973).

Corollary 3 (Expansion formula due to Carlitz [4, Eq 2.3]).

P
y y n D0n f f ðxÞðx; qÞn g
f ðyÞ ¼ :
n¼0 ðq; qÞn ð y; qÞnþ1

4 Partial fractions and further expansion

For a sequence of indeterminates fak gkb0 , we define w-polynomials by

w0 ðyjaÞ ¼ 1

and wn ð yjaÞ ¼ ðy
a0 Þð y
a1 Þ    ðy
an
1 Þ for n ¼ 1; 2; . . . :

Suppose that fgk gkb0 are distinct complex numbers di¤erent from zero. We may con-
sider the partial fraction decomposition
Q m
1
wm ðyjaÞ Pm Akm ð1
ai gkþe Þ
Qm ¼ with Akm ¼ i¼0
Q m :
l¼0 ð1
yg eþl Þ k¼0 1
ygkþe j¼0 kþe
gjþe Þ
ðg
j0k
1102 Chu Wenchang

Similarly, we have another expansion in partial fractions

yn Pn Bk 1
Qn ¼ with Bk ¼ Q n :
l¼0 ð1
ygeþl Þ k¼0 1
ygkþe l¼0 ðgkþe
geþl Þ
l0k

yn m w ð yjaÞ
In order to express Q n in terms of Q m with 0 a m a n, we have to
ð1
ygeþl Þ ð1
ygeþl Þ
l¼0 l¼0
find the connection coe‰cients fxm g such that

yn Pn x w ð yjaÞ
Qn ¼ Qmm m
l¼0 ð1
yg eþl Þ m¼0 l¼0 ð1
ygeþl Þ

P
n P
m Akm
¼ xm
m¼0 k¼0 1
ygkþe

P
n 1 Pn
¼ Akm xm :
k¼0 1
ygkþe m¼k

This is equivalent to the equation system

P
n
Akm xm ¼ Bk with k ¼ 0; 1; . . . ; n
m¼k

which is always resolvable when

Q
k
1 1
al gkþe
Akk ¼ 00 for each k ¼ 0; 1; . . . :
l¼0 kþe
glþe
g

In this case, Theorem 1 implies the existence of the W-coe‰cients such that for any
formal power series f ðyÞ, there holds the following expansion

P Wm wm ðyjaÞ
ð8Þ f ð yÞ ¼
mb0 hyjgimþeþ1

Qm
where we have utilized relation h yjgimþeþ1 ¼ h yjgie l¼0 ð1
ygeþl Þ.

5 Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series

In order to determine explicitly the W-coe‰cients, it is necessary to review some basic
facts about divided di¤erences (cf. Chu [9] for example). For a complex function
F ðyÞ and uneven spaced grid points fxk gnk¼0 , the divided di¤erences with respect to
y are defined in succession as follows:
Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series 1103

F ðx0 Þ
F ðx1 Þ
D½x0 ; x1 F ðyÞ ¼ ;
x0
x1

D½x0 ; x1 F ð yÞ
D½x1 ; x2 F ð yÞ
D½x0 ; x1 ; x2 F ðyÞ ¼ ;
x0
x2
.
   ..   

D½x0 ; x1 ; . . . ; xn
1 F ðyÞ
D½x1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xn F ð yÞ

D½x0 ; x1 ; . . . ; xn F ð yÞ ¼ ;
x0
xn

which can also be expressed as


Q
n 
ð9Þ D½x0 ; x1 ; . . . ; xn F ð yÞ ¼ D½xk ; yF ð yÞ 
k¼1 y¼x0

and the symmetric formula

P
n F ðxk Þ
ð10Þ D½x0 ; x1 ; . . . ; xn F ð yÞ ¼ Q :
k¼0 i0k ðxk
xi Þ

Now let us return to (8). Multiplying across that equation by h yjginþe , we can ex-
press the divided di¤erences at the uneven spaced grid points fak gnk¼0 as follows:

D½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an f f ðyÞh yjginþe g


P h yjginþe
¼ Wm D½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an  wm ð yjaÞ :
mb0 h yjgimþeþ1

The divided di¤erences on the right hand side results in 1=ð1
an gnþe Þ when m ¼ n
and zero otherwise, which can be justified by the facts that all the grid points
fak gnk¼0 are zeros of wm ðyjaÞ for m > n and the order of di¤erences is superior to
the degree of polynomial for m < n. Therefore we have found that

Wn ¼ ð1
an gnþe ÞD½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an f f ðyÞhyjginþe g

provided that not all the grid points fak gnk¼0 are zeros of f ð yÞ (this can simply be
guaranteed by f ða0 Þ 0 0). Otherwise, the divided di¤erences would transform the
previous system of linear equations to a homogeneous one, which results in null solu-
tions. This leads us to the following very general expansion formula.
Theorem 4 (Generalized Taylor expansion formula). Let f ðyÞ be a formal power se-
ries with f ða0 Þ 0 0, there holds the generalized Taylor expansion formula:

P
y wn ðyjaÞ
f ðyÞ ¼ ð1
an gnþe Þ D½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an f f ð yÞh yjginþe g:
n¼0 h yjginþeþ1
1104 Chu Wenchang

Letting ak ¼ a and gk ¼ 0 for k A N0 , then recalling the fact that


d n f ðxÞ 
lim D½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an  f ðxÞ ¼ n
ak !a dx n! x¼a

we see that Theorem 4 contains the Taylor expansion formula as special case.
In particular, let e ¼ 0 and f ðyÞ ¼ 1=ð1
xyÞ in Theorem 4. Reformulate the ratio-
nal function

 Q n
1
h yjgin Q
1 n
1 gk gk ðx
gk Þ
¼ 1
þ ð1
xyÞ ¼ pð yÞ þ k¼0
1
xy 1
xy k¼0 x x x n ð1
xyÞ

where pð yÞ is a polynomial of degree n
1 in y. By computing the divided dif-

ferences

1 xn
D½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an  ¼ Qn
1
xy k¼0 ð1
xak Þ

we get the following expression

Q n
1
h yjgin ðx
gi Þ
D½a0 ; a1 ; . . . ; an  ¼ Q ni¼0 :
1
xy j¼0 ð1
xaj Þ

This leads us to the following interesting identity.

Example 5. Suppose that jxyj < 1 and an ; gn ! 0 as n ! y, there holds the expan-
sion formula:
Q n
1
1 P ðx
gi Þð y
ai Þ
¼ ð1
an gn Þ Q ni¼0 :
1
xy nb0 j¼0 ð1
xaj Þð1
ygj Þ

This identity may be considered as an extension of the geometric series:

1 P
¼ ðxyÞ n where jxyj < 1:
1
xy nb0

6 Expansion formula due to Liu (2002)

When fxk gnk¼0 are specified by xk ¼ q k x for 0 a k a n, it is not hard to check that the
divided di¤erences reduce to the q-derivatives:

Dxn
D½x0 ; x1 ; . . . ; xn  f ð yÞ ¼ f ðxÞ:
ðq; qÞn

Now letting ak ¼ q k x with 0 a k a n, we may restate Theorem 4 as follows.

Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series 1105

Theorem 6 (The q-Taylor expansion formula).

P
y ðx=y; qÞn n Dxn f f ðxÞhxjginþe g
f ðyÞ ¼ ð1
q n gnþe xÞ y :
n¼0 ðq; qÞn h yjginþeþ1

Specifying further fgk gnk¼0 by gk ¼ p k l for 0 a k a n, we get the following bibasic

expansion formula.

Proposition 7 (The bibasic Taylor expansion formula).

P
y ðx=y; qÞn n Dxn f f ðxÞðlx; pÞnþe g
f ðyÞ ¼ ð1
p eþn q n lxÞ y :
n¼0 ðq; qÞn ðly; pÞ1þnþe

When e ¼ 0, l ¼ 1 and p ¼ q, the last formula reduces to the following interesting

expansion formula.

Corollary 8 (The q-analogue of Taylor expansion formula: Liu [21, Thm 2]).

P
y ðx=y; qÞn n Dxn f f ðxÞðx; qÞn g
f ðyÞ ¼ f1
xq 2n g y :
n¼0 ðq; qÞn ðy; qÞnþ1

This is a significant generalization of Corollary 3 due to Carlitz [4, Eq 2.3] which has
actually been discovered by Liu [21] in a slightly di¤erent but equivalent form. It has
several important applications to basic hypergeometric series, such as Rogers-Fine
identity, the nonterminating q-Dougall sum and Watson’s q-Whipple transformation
on terminating well-poised series. The interested reader may find the details in Chu
[10] and Liu [21].
In addition, we present the following quadratic formula as a new application.
First, specify in Proposition 7 with e ¼ 0, q ¼ p 2 and

ð plmy; p 2 Þy ðp 2 ly=m; p 2 Þy
f ðyÞ :¼ :
ðly; pÞy

The corresponding divided di¤erences can be reformulated through (5b) as follows:

Dxn f f ðxÞðlx; pÞn g

ðly; pÞnþ1

P
n ðp
2n ; p 2 Þk ð p 2k lx; pÞn
¼ x
n p 2k f ð p 2k xÞ
k¼0 ðp 2 ; p 2 Þk ðly; pÞnþ1

n ðp
2n ; p 2 Þ ð p n lx; p 2 Þ ð p 1þn lx; p 2 Þ

f ðxÞ  ðlx; pÞn P k k k 2k
¼ p :
x ðly; pÞnþ1 k¼0 ð p 2 ; p 2 Þk ð plmx; p 2 Þk ðp 2 lx=m; p 2 Þk
n
1106 Chu Wenchang

Then, evaluating the last sum via the q-Saalschütz theorem [2, §8.4], we have

Pn ðp
2n ; p 2 Þ ðp n lx; p 2 Þ ð p 1þn lx; p 2 Þ

k k k 2k
2 2 2 2 2
p
k¼0 ðp ; p Þk ð plmx; p Þk ðp lx=m; p Þk

ð p 1
n m; p 2 Þn ðp
n m; p 2 Þn ðm; pÞn ðp
n m; pÞn

¼ ¼
ðplmx; p 2 Þn ð p
2n m=lx; p 2 Þn ðplmx; p 2 Þn ðp
2n m=lx; p 2 Þn

ðlxÞ n ðm; pÞn ð p=m; pÞn

¼ pð 2 Þ
nþ1
:
ð plmx; p 2 Þn ðp 2 lx=m; p 2 Þn

Substituting the last two expressions into the equality displayed in Proposition 7, we
establish the following quadratic expansion formula:

y 1
p 3n lx ðx=y; p 2 Þ ðlx; pÞ ðm; pÞ ðp=m; pÞ p ð 2 Þ ðlyÞ n

nþ1
ð1
lyÞ f ðyÞ P n n n n
¼ :
ð1
lxÞ f ðxÞ n¼0 1
lx ðpl y; pÞn ðp 2 ; p 2 Þn ð plmx; p 2 Þn ðp 2 lx=m; p 2 Þn

Finally, performing simultaneously the replacements

p ! q; l ! 1; m ! d; x ! a; y ! b;

we derive the following interesting identity, which is equivalent to the limiting case
n ! y of a terminating series formula due to Gessel and Stanton [16, Eq 1.4].

Example 9 (Quadratic q-series identity).

Py 1
q 3n a ða=b; q 2 Þ ða; qÞn ðd; qÞn ðq=d; qÞn

q ð 2 Þb n
nþ1
n
2 2 2 2 2
n¼0 1
a ðqb; qÞn ðq ; q Þn ðqad; q Þn ðq a=d; q Þn

ðqa; qÞy ðqbd; q 2 Þy ðq 2 b=d; q 2 Þy

¼ :
ðqb; qÞy ðqad; q 2 Þy ðq 2 a=d; q 2 Þy

7 Connection with q-analogues of Lagrange inversion

Let fðxÞ be a formal power series with fð0Þ 0 0. Then for any formal power series
F ðyÞ, the Lagrange expansion formulae (cf. Comtet [12, §3.8] for example) assert that

P
y y n D0n
1
ð11aÞ F ðyÞ ¼ F ð0Þ þ n fF 0 ðxÞf n ðxÞg;
n¼1 f ðyÞ n!

F ðyÞ P
y y n D0n
ð11bÞ 0 ¼ n fF ðxÞf n ðxÞg:
1
yf ð yÞ=fð yÞ n¼0 f ð yÞ n!
Divided di¤erences and generalized Taylor series 1107

Up to now, there exist several q-analogues in literature. The most general form may
be expressed as

P
y Wn y n
F ð yÞ ¼ F ð0Þ þ Q n
1 k
n¼1 k¼0 fðq yÞ

where fWn g are the coe‰cients to be determined.

We observe that Corollary 3 due to Carlitz [4] corresponds to the case when fðxÞ is
replaced by a linear function, while Corollary 8 discovered by Liu [21] (see Chu [10]
also) and the main theorem (Theorem 4) proved in this paper are the cases when fðxÞ
is specified by a simple linear fraction aþbx
cþdx . Other related works are commented
briefly as follows:
 Andrews [1] expressed Wn as determinants in terms of coe‰cients of fðxÞ and F ðyÞ.
However the formula is too complicated to apply.
 Gessel-Stanton [16, 17, 25] discovered q-analogues for fðxÞ ¼ ð1
x k Þ g with
k ¼ 1; 2; . . . which result in very rich applications to basic hypergeometric series and
Roger-Ramanujan identities.
 Garsia-Remmel [13, 14], Gessel [15] and Singer [24] established more general q-
analogues and investigated their applications to classical partition identities.
 There are close connections between the q-Lagrange expansion formula and inverse
series relations, which are exposed in details by Bressoud [3], Carlitz [5], Chu [6, 7, 8]
and Krattenthaler [19].
 Other versions of q-Lagrange expansion for specific families of functions with f n ðxÞ
Q n
1
being replaced by particular fn ðxÞ instead of k¼0 fðq k yÞ can be found in Cigler [11],
Hofbauer [18], Krattenthaler [20] and Paule [23]. In particular, the q-analogue of
Abel’s extension of the binomial theorem and the Hagen-Rothe binomial convolu-
tion formulae are provided in Hofbauer [18].
For further historical account about q-analogues of Lagrange expansion formula, the
interested reader may refer to the excellent review made by Stanton [25].

Acknowledgement. The author is grateful to the anonymous referee for the careful
reading and useful suggestions, which make this manuscript improved substantially.

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Received 6 November 2006; revised 21 June 2007

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