Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science (Jan 2009)
On the 2-adic order of Stirling numbers of the second kind and their differences
Abstract
Let $n$ and $k$ be positive integers, $d(k)$ and $\nu_2(k)$ denote the number of ones in the binary representation of $k$ and the highest power of two dividing $k$, respectively. De Wannemacker recently proved for the Stirling numbers of the second kind that $\nu_2(S(2^n,k))=d(k)-1, 1\leq k \leq 2^n$. Here we prove that $\nu_2(S(c2^n,k))=d(k)-1, 1\leq k \leq 2^n$, for any positive integer $c$. We improve and extend this statement in some special cases. For the difference, we obtain lower bounds on $\nu_2(S(c2^{n+1}+u,k)-S(c2^n+u,k))$ for any nonnegative integer $u$, make a conjecture on the exact order and, for $u=0$, prove part of it when $k \leq 6$, or $k \geq 5$ and $d(k) \leq 2$. The proofs rely on congruential identities for power series and polynomials related to the Stirling numbers and Bell polynomials, and some divisibility properties.
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