Wednesday, 17 February 2016

elementary number theory - highest power of prime p dividing binomm+nn



How to prove the theorem stated here.




Theorem. (Kummer, 1854) Let p be a prime. The highest power of p that divides the binomial coefficient (m+nn) is equal to the number of "carries" when adding m and n in base p.





So far, I know if m+n can be expanded in base power as
m+n=a0+a1p++akpk
and m have to coefficients {b0,b1,bi} and n can be expanded with coefficients {c0,c1,,cj} in base p then the highest power of prime that divides (m+nn) can be expressed as
e=(b0+b1+bi)+(c0+c1+cj)(a0+a1+ak)p1
It follows from here page number 4. But how does it relate to the number of carries? I am not being able to connect. Perhaps I am not understanding something very fundamental about addition.


Answer



If b0+c0<p, then a0=b0+c0, there are no carries, and the term
b0+c0a0=0
does not contribute to your e.



If b0+c0p, then a0=b0+c0p, and this time b0+c0a0 gives a contribution of p to the numerator of e. Plus, there is a contribution of 1 to a1, so the net contribution to the numerator of e is p1, and that to e is 1. Repeat.



As mentioned by Jyrki Lahtonen in his comment (which appeared while I was typesetting this answer), you may have propagating carries, but this is the basic argument.


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