INTEGER SEQUENCES GENERATED BY

POLYNOMIALS AND POWER SERIES

By E. F. (“Frank”) Cornelius, Jr.

efcornelius@comcast.net
frankcornelius@alum.mit.edu
How it all began— A teenager’s complaint?

 Standardized Test Question: Given the sequence 1, 2,3, 4 ,

what number comes next?

 Research Starting Point: For which sequences of integers

y  y0 , y1 , , yn1

does there exist an integral polynomial f y ( x)

that generates the sequence, in the sense that
f y ( j )  y j , j  0, , n  1 ?

2
References
 Cornelius & P. Schultz, Sequences Generated by Polynomials,
American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 115, No. 2 (2008), 154-158
 Cornelius & P. Schultz, Polynomial Points,
Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2007), Article 07.3.6
 Cornelius & P. Schultz, Multinomial Points,
Houston Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 34, No. 3 (2008), 661-676
 Cornelius & P. Schultz, Root Bases of Polynomials Over Integral Domains,
in Models, Modules and Abelian Groups, R. Gobel & B. Goldsmith, eds.
(Walter de Gruyter Berlin 2008), 237-250

Papers authored or coauthored by the presenter are posted at

www.scribd.com/efrankcornelius

3
Integral Root Basis
Integral root basis for integral polynomials [ x]:
R  {1, x, x( x  1), x( x  1)( x  2), , x( x  1) ( x  j  1), }
satisfying the recursion formula  j 1 ( x)   j ( x)( x  j )
Advantages of the integral root basis:
(i) When constructing polynomials inductively, what is done at one step
does not affect what was done at previous steps; i.e.,
f j 1 ( x)  f j ( x)  a j 1  j 1 ( x)

(ii) Power series [[ x]]R  { a j  j ( x) : a j  } converge at all
j 0

non-negative integers
4
Methodology

We begin by defining a valuation map v : Z [ x]  Z n , under which

f ( x) ( f (0), f (1), , f (n  1))

We denote the image of v by Pn and call its elements "polynomials points".

The valuation map v is a homomorphism which breaks the integral
polynomials into Z [ x]  Z [ x]n   n ( x) Z [ x ], where Z [ x ]n  the
polynomials of degree  n and  n ( x) Z [ x]  ker v. For n  , we focus
upon Z [ x]n  Pn , because polynomials of degree  n add nothing.

5
Stacked Bases
Under the valuation map, the integral root basis of Z [ x]n , i.e., the first n
elements of the integral root basis R, is mapped into a basis of Pn , called
the "Gamma basis" {γ j }. For purposes of matrix-vector multiplication,
objects on the right are viewed as column vectors. The transformation
i
matrix of v, denoted Cn  (cij ), is given by cij  j !  ; its columns form
 j
the Gamma basis of Pn . Observe that the j th column of Cn is divisible
by j !. Such divisibility yields stacked bases, which are essential to
extensions to higher dimensions and to general integral domains.

6
The Structure Theorem
Divide the j th column of Cn by j ! to obtain a matrix An  (aij ) in
i
which aij    . You recognize An as Pascal's matrix with inverse
 j
1  i j  i  
An   (1)    . The columns of An form a basis of Z n , called
  j 
the "Alpha basis" {α j }, which is stacked with the Gamma basis of Pn ,
γ j  j !α j . As a result of this stacking,
n 1
Z n
  Z j !Z  Z
 
Z
Pn j 0 2! Z (n  1)! Z
the first two factors in the product being degenerate, as 0!  1  1!
7
Superfactorials

n
The order of Z is 0!1! (n  1)!, or ( n  1) - superfactorial , denoted
Pn
(n  1)$; see Sequence A000178 in The On - Line Encyclopedia of

Integer Sequences. Thus the odds of a "random" sequence of n integers

1
being generated by a polynomial are quite small for large n, 
(n  1)$

8
Lagrange Interpolation Polynomials
Observe: Cn is a lower-triangular matrix with non-zero elements
down the diagonal and hence is invertible over the rationals.
Cn  R -coefficients of polynomial  polynomial values at 0, , n  1.
Therefore, R -coefficients  Cn1  values. Let Cn1  Bn  (bij ); then

(1)i  j  i  (1)i  j
bij    
i !  j  (i  j )! j !

For a  Z n , Cn1a  Bna  R -coefficients of the Lagrange Interpolation

Polynomial for a, la ( x). In general, la ( x) is not integral.
9
 Relationships Theorem
The following are equivalent for 𝐚 = (𝑎0 , … , 𝑎𝑛−1 ) ∈ 𝑍 𝑛 :

(1) 𝐚 ∈ 𝑃𝑛 ; i.e., 𝐚 is a polynomial point

(2) 𝑙𝐚 (𝑥) ∈ 𝑍[𝑥]𝑛 ; i.e., the Lagrange Interpolation Polynomial

for 𝐚 has integral coefficients

(3) 𝐶𝑛−1 𝐚 = 𝐵𝑛 𝐚 ∈ 𝑍 𝑛

𝑖
(−1)𝑖+𝑗 𝑎𝑗
(4) ∈ 𝑍 for all 𝑖 = 0, … , 𝑛 − 1
𝑗! (𝑖 − 𝑗)!
𝑗 =0

10
To Infinity and Beyond

The finite readily expands to the infinite, with


(i) Z replaced by Π   Z , the Baer-Specker group;
n

j 0

(ii) Z [ x] and Z [ x]n replaced by Z [[ x]]R ;

(iii) v replaced by v taking f  Z [[ x]]R into ( f ( j ) : j  N ); and
(iv) Pn replaced by P  v ( Z [[ x]]R ), the elements of which we continue
to call polynomial points

The resulting quotient becomes Π 
P 
Z
, a non-splitting mixed group
j 0 j !Z

11
The Motivation to Go Higher

The motivation to expand into higher dimensions comes from the fact
that no permutation of the sequence 1, 0, 0, 0 can be generated by any
integral polynomial in one variable, but all arrangements of those four
numbers, indexed by the four elements of {0,1}  {0,1} -- for example,
0(0,0) , 1(0,1) , 0(1,0) , 0(1,1) -- can be generated by polynomials in two variables
evaluated on {0,1}  {0,1}. This is, of course, but one such example.

12
The Trip to Higher Dimensions
• Index by and evaluate at C (k , n), the set of all k -tuples of integers
from {0, , n  1}
• Use the group of integral polynomials in k variables, Z ( X k ); denote
by Z ( X k ) n the group of integral polynomials in which the degree of
each variable is  n
• Use the integral root basis for each variable; for example, when k  2,
the basis for Z ( X 2 ) is {i ( x)  j ( y ) : i, j  N }
• The valuation map v : Z ( X k )  Z C ( k ,n ) operates this way:
For a  (a0 , , ak 1 )  C (k , n) and f ( x0 , , xk 1 )  Z ( X k ),
[v ( f )](a)  f (a0 , , ak 1 )
• Denote the "multinomial points" by MP(k , n)  v(Z ( X k ))  v(Z ( X k ) n )
13
All Results Carry Over to
Higher Dimensions

•
Z C ( k ,n )
 
Z
MP(k , n) ( m0 , , mk 1 )C ( k , n ) m0 ! mk 1 ! Z

• Gamma basis of MP(k , n)  Z C ( k ,n ) , Alpha basis of Z C ( k ,n )

• "Pascal's matrices" in higher dimensions,
a matrix being a function C (k , n)  C (k , n)  Z
• "Lagrange Interpolation Polynomials" in several variables
• Relationships Theorem
• Results expand to n  , i.e., to C (k , N ), Z [[ X k ]]R & Z C ( k , N )

14
A Proposition About Primes

For all positive integers k and n, MP (k , n) contains an infinite number

of functions which take on only prime values; i.e., an infinite number of
polynomials in Z [ X k ]n assume only prime numbers as values, on C (k , n).

15
The Alpha and Gamma Bases
Are Bases of Free Groups
Let P denote the image of Z [ x] under the valuation map Z [[ x]]R  Π
and let P denote the pure subgroup generated by P . Let Σ denote
those sequences in Π, which are 0 after a while. Then
• P
P
 Π
Σ
• The Gamma basis is a basis of the countable free group P

and P   γ j
j 0

• The Alpha basis is a basis of the countable free group P


and Π   α j
j 0
16
Product Bases
The Alpha and Gamma bases are called “product bases” in the sense
that each element in their respective groups can be written uniquely

as an infinite sum of the base elements; e.g., for x  Π, x   b j α j ,
j 0

b j  Z . This is true because the A and C matrices are row-finite. The

concept of product base can be extended to a subgroup U of Z C ( k , N )
if U contains a subset um : m  C (k , N ) such that each element
u  U can be expressed uniquely in the form u  
mC ( k , N )
am um , am  Z ,

in such a way that 

mC ( k , N )
am um (b) is finite for all b  C (k , N ).

17
Correspondence Between
Product Bases and Invertible Matrices
A k -dimensional, infinite, integral matrix G is a function
G : C (k , N )  C (k , N )  Z . G is said to be row-finite if, for all
a  C (k , N ), G (a, b)  0 except for finitely many b  C (k , N ),
the number depending upon a. The set of such row-finite matrices is
a unital ring under pointwise addition, with multiplication of G and H
defined as GH (a, b)  
cC ( k , N )
G (a, c) H (c, b), for all a, b  C (k , N ).

The following result obtains:

Product Bases Theorem. There is a 1:1 correspondence between the
product bases of Z C ( k , N ) and the multiplicative group of invertible,
row-finite, k -dimensional, infinite, integral matrices.
18
Extension to Integral Domains
Many of the foregoing results for Z n and Π have been extended to the

countable product of an arbitrary integral domain D,  D, with
j 0

valuation at distinct points S  {s j : j  N }  D. The S -root basis

of D[ x] is defined by 0  1, then  j 1 ( x)   j ( x)( x  s j ). The results
on quotient modules tend to carry over -- to the extent that the columns
of the C or values matrix are divisible by the corresponding diagonal
elements, to produce an A matrix with 1’s down the diagonal and hence
stacked bases.

19
Divisibility Conditions
The elements of the j th column of the C matrix are divisible by the
j th diagonal element in these cases, with d a non-zero element of D:

(1) si  id , arithmetic sequence

(2) si  d i , geometric sequence

d i 1
(3) si  , hypergeometric sequence
d 1

In (2) or (3), if d is a root of unity, results are limited to finite dimensions.

20
General Results

Combinatorial Lemma. Let d1 , , d n be any n  1 non-zero elements

from an integral domain, and set d 0  0. Then

(d n  d 0 )(d n  d1 ) (d n  di 1 )

n

(1)i  1
i 1
d1 di

Hypergeometric Theorem. Let D be an integral domain. Then

xl  1 x l 1  1 x l  p 1  1
( x 1
)( x2 1
) ( x 1
p
)  D[ x] for all positive integers l and p

21