A streamlined difference ring theory: Indefinite nested sums, the alternating sign and the parameterized telescoping problem

Abstract

We present an algebraic framework to represent indefinite nested sums over hypergeometric expressions in difference rings. In order to accomplish this task, parts of Karr's difference field theory have been extended to a ring theory in which also the alternating sign can be expressed. The underlying machinery relies on algorithms that compute all solutions of a given parameterized telescoping equation. As a consequence, we can solve the telescoping and creative telescoping problem in such difference rings.