A zero-sum sequence over ℤ is a sequence with terms in ℤ that sum to 0. It is called minimal if it does not contain a proper zero-sum subsequence. Consider a minimal zero-sum sequence over ℤ with positive terms $a₁,...,a_h$ and negative terms $b₁,...,b_k$. We prove that h ≤ ⌊σ⁺/k⌋ and k ≤ ⌊σ⁺/h⌋, where $\sigma ⁺={\sum }_{i=1}^h{a}_i=-{\sum }_{j=1}^k{b}_j$. These bounds are tight and improve upon previous results. We also show a natural partial order structure on the collection of all minimal zero-sum sequences over the set i∈ ℤ : -n ≤ i ≤ n for any positive integer n.

A prime number p is called a Schenker prime if there exists n ∈ ℕ₊ such that p∤n and p|aₙ, where $aₙ={\sum }_{j=0}^n(n!/j!)n^j$ is a so-called Schenker sum. T. Amdeberhan, D. Callan and V. Moll formulated two conjectures concerning p-adic valuations of aₙ when p is a Schenker prime. In particular, they conjectured that for each k ∈ ℕ₊ there exists a unique positive integer $n_k<5^k$ such that $v₅\left(a_{m·5^k+n_k}\right)\ge k$ for each nonnegative integer m. We prove that for every k ∈ ℕ₊ the inequality v₅(aₙ) ≥ k has exactly one solution modulo $5^k$. This confirms the...

We study the condition on expanding an analytic several variables function in terms of products of the homogeneous generalized Al-Salam-Carlitz polynomials. As applications, we deduce bilinear generating functions for the homogeneous generalized Al-Salam-Carlitz polynomials. We also gain multilinear generating functions for the homogeneous generalized Al-Salam-Carlitz polynomials. Moreover, we obtain generalizations of Andrews-Askey integrals and Ramanujan $q$-beta integrals. At last, we derive $U(n+1)$...

For any positive integer k and any set A of nonnegative integers, let $r_{1,k}(A,n)$ denote the number of solutions (a₁,a₂) of the equation n = a₁ + ka₂ with a₁,a₂ ∈ A. Let k,l ≥ 2 be two distinct integers. We prove that there exists a set A ⊆ ℕ such that both $r_{1,k}(A,n)=r_{1,k}(\mathbb{N}\setminus A,n)$ and $r_{1,l}(A,n)=r_{1,l}(\mathbb{N}\setminus A,n)$ hold for all n ≥ n₀ if and only if log k/log l = a/b for some odd positive integers a,b, disproving a conjecture of Yang. We also show that for any set A ⊆ ℕ satisfying $r_{1,k}(A,n)=r_{1,k}(\mathbb{N}\setminus A,n)$ for all n ≥ n₀, we have $r_{1,k}(A,n)\to \infty$ as n → ∞.