A matrix generalization of a theorem of Fine

Abstract

In 1947 Nathan Fine gave a beautiful product for the number of binomial coefficients $\binom{n}{m}$, for $m$ in the range $0 \leq m \leq n$, that are not divisible by $p$. We give a matrix product that generalizes Fine's formula, simultaneously counting binomial coefficients with $p$-adic valuation $\alpha$ for each $\alpha \geq 0$. For each $n$ this information is naturally encoded in a polynomial generating function, and the sequence of these polynomials is $p$-regular in the sense of Allouche and Shallit. We also give a further generalization to multinomial coefficients.