Faulhaber's Theorem on Power Sums

In this paper, we present several explicit formulas of the sums and hyper-sums of the powers of the first (n+1)-terms of a general arithmetic sequence in terms of Stirling numbers and generalized Bernoulli polynomials.

Using combinatorial techniques, we derive a recurrence identity that expresses an exponential power sum with negative powers in terms of another exponential power sum with positive powers. Consequently, we derive a formula for the power sum of the first $k$ natural numbers when the power is odd, which when used in combination with Faulhaber's formula for computing power sums helps us to retrieve the Bernoulli numbers in certain cases.

In modern usage the Bernoulli numbers and polynomials follow Euler's approach and are defined using generating functions. We consider the functional equation $f(x)+x^k=f(x+1)$ and show that a solution can be derived from Faulhaber's formula for the sum of powers. We show how these solutions provide a characterization of Bernoulli numbers and related results.

Let $S_p(n)$ denote the sum of $p$th powers of the first $n$ positive integers $1^p + 2^p + \cdots + n^p$. In this paper, first we express $S_p(n)$ in the so-called Faulhaber form, namely, as an even or odd polynomial in $(n + 1/2)$, according as $p$ is odd or even. Then, using the relation $S_p(n) - S_p(n-1) = n^p$, we derive a recursive formula for the associated Faulhaber coefficients. Applying Cramer's rule to the corresponding system of equations, we obtain an explicit d...

Denote by $\Sigma n^m$ the sum of the $m$-th powers of the first $n$ positive integers $1^m+2^m+\ldots +n^m$. Similarly let $\Sigma^r n^m$ be the $r$-fold sum of the $m$-th powers of the first $n$ positive integers, defined such that $\Sigma^0 n^{m}=n^m$, and then recursively by $\Sigma^{r+1} n^{m}=\Sigma^{r} 1^{m}+\Sigma^{r} 2^{m}+\ldots + \Sigma^{r} n^{m}$. During the early 17th-century, polynomial expressions for the sums $\Sigma^r n^m$ and their factorisation and polynomi...

We give an expression of polynomials for higher sums of powers of integers via the higher order Bernoulli numbers.

We present a simple elementary recursive representation of the so called Faulhaber series $\sum_{k=1}^n k^N$ for integer $n$ and $N$, without reference to Bernoulli numbers or polynomials.

Sum of powers 1^p+...+n^p, with n and p being natural numbers and n>=1, can be expressed as a polynomial function of n of degree p+1. Such representations are often called Faulhaber formulae. A simple recursive algorithm for computing coefficients of Faulhaber formulae is presented. The correctness of the algorithm is proved by giving a recurrence relation on Faulhaber formulae.

In a recent paper the authors studied the denominators of polynomials that represent power sums by Bernoulli's formula. Here we extend our results to power sums of arithmetic progressions. In particular, we obtain a simple explicit criterion for integrality of the coefficients of these polynomials. As applications, we obtain new results on the sequence of denominators of the Bernoulli polynomials. A consequence is that certain quotients of successive denominators are infinite...

For $k$ a positive integer let $S_k(n) = 1^k + 2^k + \cdots + n^k$, i.e., $S_k(n)$ is the sum of the first $k$-th powers. Faulhaber conjectured (later proved by Jacobi) that for $k$ odd, $S_k(n)$ could be written as a polynomial of $S_1(n)$; for example $S_3(n) = S_1(n)^2$. We extend this result and prove that for any $k$ there is a polynomial $g_k(x,y)$ such that $S_k(n) = g(S_1(n), S_2(n))$. The proof yields a recursive formula to evaluate $S_k(n)$ as a polynomial of $n$ th...