Recurrent Sums and Partition Identities

Abstract

Sums of the form $\sum_{N_m=q}^{n}{\cdots \sum_{N_1=q}^{N_2}{a_{(m);N_m}\cdots a_{(1);N_1}}}$ where the $a_{(k);N_k}$'s are same or distinct sequences appear quite often in mathematics. We will refer to them as recurrent sums. In this paper, we introduce a variety of formulas to help manipulate and work with this type of sums. We begin by developing variation formulas that allow the variation of a recurrent sum of order $m$ to be expressed in terms of lower order recurrent sums. We then proceed to derive theorems (which we will call inversion formulas) which show how to interchange the order of summation in a multitude of ways. Later, we introduce a set of new partition identities in order to then prove a reduction theorem which permits the expression of a recurrent sum in terms of a combination of non-recurrent sums. Finally, we apply this reduction theorem to a recurrent form of two famous types of sums: The $p$-series and the sum of powers.