Multiple Sums and Partition Identities

Abstract

Sums of the form $\sum_{q \leq N_1 < \cdots < N_m \leq n}{a_{(m);N_m}\cdots a_{(2);N_2}a_{(1);N_1}}$ date back to the sixteen century when Viète illustrated that the relation linking the roots and coefficients of a polynomial had this form. In more recent years, such sums have become increasingly used with a diversity of applications. In this paper, we develop formulae to help with manipulating such sums (which we will refer to as multiple sums). We develop variation formulae that express the variation of multiple sums in terms of lower order multiple sums. Additionally, we derive a set of partition identities that we use to prove a reduction theorem that expresses multiple sums as a combination of simple (non-recurrent) sums. We present a variety of applications including applications concerning polynomials and MZVs as well as a generalization of the binomial theorem. Finally, we establish the connection between multiple sums and a type of sums called recurrent sums. By exploiting this connection, we provide additional partition identities for odd and even partitions.