Submitted:
01 April 2026
Posted:
02 April 2026
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Abstract
Using generalized binomial coefficient identities and some results of John Dougall, we derive some families of series involving the cubes of Catalan numbers. We also establish a family of series containing fourth powers of Catalan numbers. Finally, we find a generalization of the Bauer series for \( 1/\pi \) and obtain some Ramanujan-like series for \( 1/\pi^2 \) and~\( 1/\pi^3 \).
Keywords:
Catalan number
; harmonic number
; odd harmonic number
; central binomial coefficient
; Ramanujan-like series
MSC: Primary 05A10; Secondary 05A19
1. Introduction
Catalan numbers are defined for non-negative integers j by
and obey the following recurrence relation:
Using Dixon’s theorem, Tauraso [5] found the following identity involving cubed Catalan numbers:
where is the Gamma function.
In this paper, using identities involving generalized binomial coefficients and results due to Dougall [3] we will derive (3) and the following series having a similar nature:
and
In fact, each of identities (3)–(8) occurs as a particular member of a family of series stated in Corollaries 1 and 2 and Theorem 3. For instance, (3) is the case of the family stated in Corollary 1, namely,
We will also derive families of series involving cubed Catalan numbers and odd harmonic numbers including the following special cases:
and
As additional results, we will derive a family of series involving fourth powers of Catalan numbers and one involving these numbers and odd harmonic numbers, of which the following are particular cases:
and
A high point of this paper is the discovery of a family of Ramanujan-like series (Theorem 8):
which gives the Bauer series [1] at :
We will establish the following families of Ramanujan-like series for and :
and
with the special cases
and
Binomial coefficients are defined, for non-negative integers i and j, by
The definition is extended to complex numbers r and s by
where the Gamma function, , is defined for by
and is extended to the rest of the complex plane, excluding the non-positive integers, by analytic continuation.
Harmonic numbers, , and odd harmonic numbers, , are defined for non-negative integers j by
The identity
extends harmonic numbers to half-integer arguments and is a consequence of the link between harmonic numbers, odd harmonic numbers and the digamma function.
2. Required Results
Series involving cubed Catalan numbers are given in Theorems 1, 2 and 3 and Corollaries 1 and 2. We require the results stated in Lemmata 1–6.
Lemma 1.
If k and r are non-negative integers, then
Proof.
This identity and similar ones can be derived using (27) together with the identities
and
and the Pochhammer relation
for n a non-negative integer and z a complex number. □
Lemma 2.
If m is an integer, then
and
Proof.
Use the recurrence relation . □
Lemma 3.
If m is an integer, then
and
Proof.
These follow immediately from (34) and the fact that
which is a consequence of Euler’s reflection formula:
□
Lemma 4.
If m is an integer, then
and
where, as usual, is the greatest integer less than or equal to x and is the smallest integer greater than or equal to x.
Proof.
□
Lemma 5.
If n is an integer, then .
Proof.
We have
Thus,
□
Each identity in Lemma 6 is a slight re-writing of the original one derived by Dougall [3].
Lemma 6.
If x is a complex number, then
and
3. Series Involving Cubed Catalan Numbers
Theorem 1.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Proof.
Set in (52) to obtain
and hence (56) upon using Lemmata 1, 2 and 4. □
Corollary 1.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
and
Proof.
Write for m and for m, in turn, in (56), and apply Lemma 3. □
Theorem 2.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Proof.
Use of in (53) gives
and hence (63) by Lemma 1. □
Remark 3.
Identities (5) and (6) are obtained at and in (63).
Theorem 3.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Proof.
Set in (54) and apply Lemmata 1, 2 and 4. □
Corollary 2.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
and
Proof.
4. Series Involving Cubed Catalan Numbers and Odd Harmonic Numbers
Theorem 4.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Proof.
Remark 5.
Theorem 5.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Proof.
Differentiate (53) with respect to x to obtain
Set and use (30) and Lemma 1. □
Remark 6.
Identities (13) and (14) are evaluations of (87) at and .
5. Series Involving Fourth Powers of Catalan Numbers
In this section, we derive a family of series involving fourth powers of Catalan numbers, based on the identity
which is a variation on [3 Equation (17)] .
Theorem 6.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Remark 7.
Identities (15) and (16) are obtained by evaluating (91) at and at .
Theorem 7.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Proof.
Remark 8.
Identities (17) and (18) correspond to setting and in (97).
6. Ramanujan-like Series and Related Series
Series involving central binomial coefficients can be derived by writing (31) in the equivalent form
for non-negative integers k and r.
Theorem 8.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
In particular,
and
Proof.
Write (53) as
set and use (103). □
Theorem 9.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
In particular,
Proof.
Remark 10.
Setting in (111) reproduces (3) after some manipulation.
Theorem 10.
If m is a positive integer, then
In particular,
and
Proof.
Theorem 11.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
Corollary 3.
If m is a non-negative integer, then
and
In particular,
and
References
- Bauer, G. Von den Coefficienten der Reihen von Kugelfunktionen einer Variabeln. Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik 1859, 56, 101–121. [Google Scholar]
- Chen, H. interesting Ramanujan-like series associated with powers of central binomial coefficients. J. Integer Seq. 2022, 22 22.1.8. [Google Scholar]
- Dougall, J. Vandermonde’s theorem and some more general expansions. Proc. Edinb. Math. Soc. 1906, 25, 114–152. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gould, H.W. Combinatorial Identities; Morgantown, West Virginia, 1972. [Google Scholar]
- Tauraso, R. A supercongruence involving cubes of Catalan numbers. Integers 2020, 20, #A44. [Google Scholar]
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