Europ. J.

Combinatorics (1990) 11, 229-233

Lucas' Theorem for Prime Powers

KENNETH s. DAVIS AND WILLIAM A. WEBB

Lucas' theorem on binomial coefficients states that(~)== (i:~) · · · (i:P(i:~)(modp) where pis a
prime and A= a,p' + · · · + a1 p + a 0 , B = b,p' + · · · + b 1 p + b 0 are the p-adic expansions of
A and B. If s ;;. 2, it is shown that a similar formula holds modulo p' where the product
involves a slightly modified binomial coefficient evaluated on blocks of s digits.

INTRODUCTION

One of the most beautiful results concerning binomial coefficients is Lucas' Theorem
[1, 2]. If 0.;;; B.;;; A are integers and p is a prime, write A and B in p-adic notation
A= a,p' + · · · + a 1p + a 0 , B = b,p' + · · · + b 1p + b 0 , where 0.;;; a;, b; < p and a, =I= 0.
Then

( A)=
B
(a')(ar-1) ... (at)(ao)(modp).
b, b,_ 1
(1)
b 1 b0
If A- B = c,p' + · · · + c 1p + c0 and p' I (~) then Kazandzidis [3) proved that
( A)= (-p')
B
~(modp'+t).
i=Ob;! C;!
IT
This result is applicable for only one power of p for each (~), and in particular does
not apply for t ;;::.1 if((~), p) = 1. Singmaster [5) also obtained similar results.
For integers A and B as above, define the string A;i = a;a;_ 1 · · · ai for 0.;;; j.;;; i.;;; r,
with B;i defined similarly. Corresponding to a string A;i is the integer d;i = a;pi-i +
· · · + ai+tP + ai. Let .;;; be the lexical order on strings, so that A;i.;;; B;i iff d;i.;;; :ll;i,
with 0; denoting the string of i + 1 zeros.
We also define a modified binomial coefficient on such strings as follows. In the
following assume j is fixed and write A; = A;i, etc. Also ps is a fixed power of p.
If B; .;;;A; then (~·) = (~').
p;
If A 0 < B 0 then (~~) = and recursively if A;< B;, i ;;::.1, then (~;) = p(~;::: ).
In general (~;) = p'a, where t;;;;. 0 and pI a.
Formally, (~;) -l = p-'a-I, where a- 1 is such that aa- 1 = 1(modps) and 0 < a- 1 <
ps. The following properties are clear:
(1) (~•)(~·)- 1 = 1(modp8 ) .
(2) If Ak ~ Bk and Ak+r < Bk+t for 1.;;; /.;;; i - k then (~;) = pi-k<~z).
(3) Suppose p' II (~;). If A;;;;;. B; then it is well known that tis the number of borrows
necessary in the subtraction d;- £YJ;. [4) If A;< B; then tis the number of borrows in
the subtraction (pi+ 1 + d;) - £YJ;. Thus if ( ~;::) ( ~;) -t = p' a, where p I a, then t;;;;. 0.
Our goal is to prove the following generalization of Lucas' Theorem which
completely determines the value of any binomial coefficient modulo any prime power.

THEOREM 1. For any integers 0.;;; B .;;; A and any prime power ps, 2 .;;; s .;;; r + 1,

(
A) =I as-1 ... ao)
1
'11
I aj+s-1 ... ai)l aj+s-2 . .. aj)-l
B \bs-1 · · · bo \bj+s-1 · · · bj \bj+s-2 • ' · bj
j=l
(2)
= 1As-t) '[i 1 1
1Ai+s-t,j)l Ai+s-2,j)- (mod ps).
\Bs-1 j=l \Bj+s-l,j \ Bj+s-2
229
0195-6698/90/030229 + 05 $02.00/0 © 1990 Academic Press Limited
230 K. S. Davis and W. Webb

The modified binomial coefficients are needed only in evaluating (~i), where Bj > Aj,
so we have as an immediate corollary. '

CoRoLLARY. If b; :s::; a; for 0 :s::; i :s::; r then

( A)= (.sti•-1) rfr (.stij+s-t,j)(.stlj+s-z,j)-t(modp•).

B ~s-l j=l ~j+s-1,j ~j+s-2,j

The following example illustrates how this theorem can be used in a specific case.
Note that we can always reduce the calculation to ordinary binomial coefficients.
Let p = 7 and s = 3, and suppose that the base 7 representations of A and B are
A= 2413605 and B = 1261632.
1 1 1
2413605) = J241)J41)- J413)J13)- Jl36)(36)- J360)J60)-l/605)
( 1201632 \120 \20 \201 \01 \016 16 \163 \63 \632
1 1 1
= (241)(41)- (413)(13)- (136)(36)- (360)r 272 (5)
120 20 201 1 16 16 163 2
= (33)(286) - (116)(10)- (10)(3) - (98)(10)
1 1 1

=(33)(6)(116)(229)(98)(10) =98(mod 343).

PROOF OF THEOREM 1
The following lemma will be useful.

LEMMA:

(
pA) = (A) Yf fi p(k +A - ~)- j
pB B j=t k=1 pk - J
for integer 0 :s::; B :s::; A.

PROOF:

pA) = (pA)(pA -1) · · · (p(A- B)+ 1)

( pB (pB)(pB -1) · · · 1
= (pA)(p(A- 1)) ... p(A- B) X Yl fi p(k +A- B)- j
(pB)(p(B - 1)) · · · p j=1 k=t pk- j
and the result follows by cancelling pB in the first factor. 0

Our proof of Theorem 1 uses induction on A. It is trivial for A < p. From now on let
A; =A;o etc. Let ll (An Br) = ll (A, B) denote a product of the type on the right side
of (2), and

n* <A, B> = n (A, B>(A·-

1
1
)- .
Bs-1
The result is also clear for r = s - 1 since (~) = (~;), so we may assume r?!: s.
Assume that (2) holds for all integers A 1 less than A and all B :s::; A 1 and suppose that
A =arpr + · · · +ao, ar=I=O.
We consider several cases, depending on the values of a0 and bo.
 Lucas' theorem for prime powers 231
1
Case 1: a0 = 0 and b0 = 0. Let ak = akpk- + · · · + a 1 and fh = bkpk- 1+ · · · + b 1, so
A = .stJ,, 0 = pa, and B = 9.i,, 0 = p{3,. Hence,

(3)

by the lemma.
Since 0 ~ {3, ~a,< A, we may apply the induction hypothesis to (~;). We also note
that formally, the expressions for IT (A, B) and IT (a" {3,) are identical except for two
factors. Hence,

(4)
1
= ((X')(As-1)(As-1,1)- .
{3, Bs-1 Bs-1,1
If psI($~) then both sides of (2) are zero and case 1 is settled. Otherwise, let pJ...II ($~)
where A< s. Then comparing (3) and (4), equation (2) holds iff

Yi TI
j=1 k=1 pk- 1 Bs-1 Bs-1,1
1
p(k +a,-~,)- j = (As-1)(As-1,1)- (modps-J...). (5)

By earlier remarks,

where Au;;;:.: Bu for some u;;;:.: 0, 0 ~ t < s. If u = 0,

As-1) = ps-1 = (As-1,1)

(
Bs-1 Bs-1,1
and the right hand side of (5) is 1. For u > 0, we also have

and so the right side of (5) becomes

= (PfXu )(a") - = (a") Yl IT p(k +au- ~u)- j (a") -

1 1

Pf3u f3u f3u j=1 k=1 pk- 1 f3u

= tf IT p(k + au - ~u)- j (mod ps).
j=1 k=1 pk- 1
Thus it now suffices to show
{j, p(k +(X _ {3) _ . fJu p(k +(X _ {3) _ 1·
IT IT
p-1
IT IT
p-1
r .r 1 r .' (modps-J...). (6)
j=1 k=1 pk- 1 j=1 k=1 pk- 1
Also, since t ~A it suffices to prove (6) modulo ps-t = p"+l. Finally, since p(cx,-
{3,) = p( au - f3u)(mod p"+ 1), it suffices to show

1=f TI
j=1 k=fJu+1
p(k +a,-~,)- j = l(modps-J...).
pk- 1
(7)
232 K. S. Davis and W. Webb

We observe that px- j runs over a reduced residue system modulo pu+ 1 as
1 ~ j ~ p - 1 and x runs over any pu consecutive integers. In (7), k runs over
fJr- fJu = brpr + · · · + bu+ 1Pu consecutive integers. This in (7), both p(k + ar- fJr)- j
and pk- j runs over a reduced residue system modulo pu+\ exactly brpr-u + · · · +
bu+ 1 times, which proves (7).

Case 2: a 0 =F 0 and b 0 =F 0. The result is trivial if A = B. If A ~ B + 1 then (3) follows

=
immediately from applying the induction hypothesis to (A 8 1) and (~ Dand noting
that

Case 3: a 0 =F 0 and b 0 = 0. We note that pI B + 1 and pI A - B and, furthermore,

(A) ( A ) B +1
B = B+1 A-B·
By Case 2, equation (3) holds for (B'!- 1) and so it suffices to show that

p• In· IAs-1)-
\Bs-1
n· I As-1 ) ~'
\Bs-1 + 1 A - B
where TI* = TI*(A, B)= TI* (A, B + 1). Since A= .si._1and B= oo._1(modp•) we
must show that

Now,
I A•-1) = P,l Au),
\Bs-1 \Bu
where Au > Bu for some u =s - t - 1 > 0, and also

I As-1 ) ,1 Au )
\Bs-1 + 1 = p \Bu + 1 '
where Au ~ Bu + 1. By earlier remarks TI* is divisible by a non-negative power of p
and so it suffices to show that

(8)

(~:)(.siu- OOu)- (B:~ 1)(oos-1 + 1) = (::)(.siu- OOu)- ( 00~~ 1)(oou + 1) = 0,

so equation (8) holds.

Case 4: a 0 = 0 and b0 =F 0. This is similar to Case 3. By Case 1, the theorem holds for
(~), where b0 = 0 and a 0 = 0. For A fixed, a 0 = 0, assume true for (~), where
0 ~ b 0 ~p- 2, and note that

A ) (A)
A -B
( B+1 = B B+1
 Lucas' theorem for prime powers 233

where p I A - B and p 1B + 1. As before, it suffices to show that

(9)

It may happen that

/ As-1 ) jAs-1)
\Bs-1 + 1 = p• = \Bs-1 '
in which case (9) is immediate. Otherwise,

As-1 ) 1( Au )
( Bs-1 + 1 = p Bu + 1 '

where Au~ Bu + 1 and the rest is the same as Case 3.

REFERENCES
1. L. E. Dickson, History of the theory of numbers, Vol. 1, Chelsea, New York, 1952.
2. N.J. Fine, Binomial coefficients modulo a prime, Am. Math. Monthly, 54 (1947), 589-592.
3. G. S. Kazandzidis, Congruences on binomial coefficients, Bull. Soc. Math. Grece (NS), 9 (1968), 1-12.
4. D. Singmaster, Divisibility of binomial and multinomial coefficients by primes and prime powers, From a
collection of manuscripts related to the Fibonacci Sequence.
5. D. Singmaster, Notes on binomial coefficients 1-a generalization of Lucas' congruence, J. Lond. Math.
Soc. (2), 8 (1974), 545-548.
Received 16 May 1989 and accepted 15 January 1990
KENNETH S. DAVIS
Albion College,
Department of Mathematics,
Albion, Michigan 49224, U.S.A.
WILLIAM A. WEBB
Washington State University,
Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics,
Pullman, Washington 99164-2930, U.S.A.