Central binomial coefficient

In mathematics the nth central binomial coefficient is the particular binomial coefficient

${\displaystyle {2n \choose n}={\frac {(2n)!}{(n!)^{2}}}=\prod \limits _{k=1}^{n}{\frac {n+k}{k}}{\text{ for all }}n\geq 0.}$

They are called central since they show up exactly in the middle of the even-numbered rows in Pascal's triangle. The first few central binomial coefficients starting at n = 0 are:

1, 2, 6, 20, 70, 252, 924, 3432, 12870, 48620, ...; (sequence A000984 in the OEIS)

Combinatorial interpretations and other properties

The central binomial coefficient ${\displaystyle {\binom {2n}{n}}}$ is the number of arrangements where there are an equal number of two types of objects. For example, when ${\displaystyle n=2}$, the binomial coefficient ${\displaystyle {\binom {2\cdot 2}{2}}}$ is equal to 6, and there are six arrangements of two copies of A and two copies of B: AABB, ABAB, ABBA, BAAB, BABA, BBAA.

The same central binomial coefficient ${\displaystyle {\binom {2n}{n}}}$ is also the number of words of length 2n made up of A and B within which, as one reads from left to right, there are never more B's than A's at any point. For example, when ${\displaystyle n=2}$, there are six words of length 4 in which each prefix has at least as many copies of A as of B: AAAA, AAAB, AABA, AABB, ABAA, ABAB.

The number of factors of 2 in ${\displaystyle {\binom {2n}{n}}}$ is equal to the number of 1s in the binary representation of n.^[1] As a consequence, 1 is the only odd central binomial coefficient.

Generating function

The ordinary generating function for the central binomial coefficients is

This can be proved using the binomial series and the relation where ${\displaystyle \textstyle {\binom {-1/2}{n}}}$ is a generalized binomial coefficient.^[2]

The central binomial coefficients have exponential generating function

where I₀ is a modified Bessel function of the first kind.^[3]

The generating function of the squares of the central binomial coefficients can be written in terms of the complete elliptic integral of the first kind:^{[citation needed]}

${\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\binom {2n}{n}}^{2}x^{n}={\frac {4}{\pi (1+{\sqrt {1-16x}})}}K\left({\frac {1-{\sqrt {1-16x}}}{1+{\sqrt {1-16x}}}}\right).}$

Asymptotic growth

Simple bounds that immediately follow from ${\displaystyle 4^{n}=(1+1)^{2n}=\sum _{k=0}^{2n}{\binom {2n}{k}}}$ are^{[citation needed]}

The asymptotic behavior can be described more precisely:^[4]

Related sequences

The closely related Catalan numbers C_n are given by:

${\displaystyle C_{n}={\frac {1}{n+1}}{2n \choose n}={2n \choose n}-{2n \choose n+1}{\text{ for all }}n\geq 0.}$

A slight generalization of central binomial coefficients is to take them as ${\displaystyle {\frac {\Gamma (2n+1)}{\Gamma (n+1)^{2}}}={\frac {1}{n\mathrm {B} (n+1,n)}}}$, with appropriate real numbers n, where ${\displaystyle \Gamma (x)}$ is the gamma function and ${\displaystyle \mathrm {B} (x,y)}$ is the beta function.

The powers of two that divide the central binomial coefficients are given by Gould's sequence, whose nth element is the number of odd integers in row n of Pascal's triangle.

Squaring the generating function gives

${\displaystyle {\frac {1}{1-4x}}=\left(\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\binom {2n}{n}}x^{n}\right)\left(\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\binom {2n}{n}}x^{n}\right)}$

Comparing the coefficients of ${\displaystyle x^{n}}$ gives

${\displaystyle \sum _{k=0}^{n}{\binom {2k}{k}}{\binom {2n-2k}{n-k}}=4^{n}}$

For example, ${\displaystyle 64=1(20)+2(6)+6(2)+20(1)}$. (sequence A000302 in the OEIS)

Similarly,

${\displaystyle \sum _{k=0}^{n}{\binom {2k}{k}}{\binom {2n-2k}{n-k}}{\binom {2n}{2k}}={\binom {2n}{n}}^{2}}$

(sequence A002894 in the OEIS)

Other information

Half the central binomial coefficient ${\displaystyle \textstyle {\frac {1}{2}}{2n \choose n}={2n-1 \choose n-1}}$ (for ${\displaystyle n>0}$) (sequence A001700 in the OEIS) is seen in Wolstenholme's theorem.

By the Erdős squarefree conjecture, proved in 1996, no central binomial coefficient with n > 4 is squarefree.

${\displaystyle \textstyle {\binom {2n}{n}}}$ is the sum of the squares of the n-th row of Pascal's Triangle:^[3]

${\displaystyle {2n \choose n}=\sum _{k=0}^{n}{\binom {n}{k}}^{2}}$

For example, ${\displaystyle {\tbinom {6}{3}}=20=1^{2}+3^{2}+3^{2}+1^{2}}$.

Erdős uses central binomial coefficients extensively in his proof of Bertrand's postulate.

Another noteworthy fact is that the power of 2 dividing ${\displaystyle (n+1)\dots (2n)}$ is exactly n.

See also

• Central trinomial coefficient

References

• Koshy, Thomas (2008), Catalan Numbers with Applications, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19533-454-8.

External links

• Central binomial coefficient at PlanetMath.