Integral Transforms and Special Functions

ISSN: 1065-2469 (Print) 1476-8291 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gitr20

Divided differences and terminating well-poised

hypergeometric series

Wenchang Chu

To cite this article: Wenchang Chu (2020): Divided differences and terminating
well-poised hypergeometric series, Integral Transforms and Special Functions, DOI:
10.1080/10652469.2020.1732370

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10652469.2020.1732370

Published online: 24 Feb 2020.

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INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS
https://doi.org/10.1080/10652469.2020.1732370

Research Article

Divided differences and terminating well-poised

hypergeometric series
Wenchang Chua,b
a School of Mathematics and Statistics, Zhoukou Normal University, Henan, People’s Republic of China;
b Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

By making use of divided differences, new proofs are presented for Received 5 May 2019
Dougall’s summation theorem for well-poised 7 F6 -series and Whip- Accepted 17 February 2020
ple’s transformation between well-poised 7 F6 -series and balanced KEYWORDS
4 F3 -series. Several new summation formulae of higher order are Divided difference; classical
established, including three identities of Fox–Wright function and an hypergeometric series;
extension of Karlsson–Minton formula. Dougall’s well-poised
7 F6 -series; Whipple’s
transformation formula;
Fox–Wright function;
Karlsson–Minton formula
2010 AMS SUBJECT
CLASSIFICATIONS
Primary 33C20; Secondary
33C60

1. Introduction and motivation

There exist numerous hypergeometric series identities in the literature (see Bailey [1],
Brychkov [2, Chapter 8] and [3–8], just for example). A few of them can be treated by
the finite difference method (see Chu [9] and Gessel [10]).
One of well–known summation theorems originally due to Dougall (cf. [1, Section 4.2]
can be reproduced as
   
a, 1 + a2 , b, d, −m 
 1 + a, 1 + a − b − d
F
5 4  1 = .
a
2 , 1 + a − b, 1 + a − d, 1 + a + m
1 + a − b, 1 + a − d m

It comes across to the author that this identity can be proved by means of divided dif-
ferences. This encouraging fact suggests that more summation formulae may be shown
similarly. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to illustrate how to employ divided differences
to derive closed formulae for classical hypergeometric series, Fox–Wright function and
other finite sums.
Throughout the paper, we shall adopt the following notations. Let N be the set of natural
numbers with N0 = N ∪ {0}. For n ∈ N0 and an indeterminate x, the shifted factorial is

CONTACT Wenchang Chu chu.wenchang@unisalento.it Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of

Salento, Lecce 73100, Italy

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

2 W. CHU

defined by
 ∞
(x + n)
(x)n = with (x) = τ x−1 e−τ dτ .
(x) 0
Its product and quotient forms will be denoted, for the sake of brevity, by
[α, β, . . . , γ ]n = (α)n (β)n · · · (γ )n ,
 
α, β, . . . , γ (α)n (β)n · · · (γ )n
= .
A, B, . . . , C n (A)n (B)n · · · (C)n
According to Bailey [1, Section 2.1], the classical hypergeometric series reads as
   ∞
a0 , a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a p  (a0 )k (a1 )k (a2 )k · · · (ap )k k
1+p Fq z = z .
b1 , b2 , . . . , bq k!(b1 )k (b2 )k · · · (bq )k
k=0

This series is said terminating if one of its numerator parameters results in a non-positive
integer, and ‘well-poised’ if p = q and the parameters satisfy the relation
1 + a0 = a1 + b1 = a2 + b2 = · · · = ap + bp .
The rest of the paper will be organized as follows. In the next section, we shall first briefly
review divided differences as well as their properties, and present a new proof of Dougall’s
formula for well-poised 5 F4 -series. Then in Sections 3 and 4, we shall examine, respectively,
Dougall’s summation theorem for well-poised 7 F6 -series and Whipple’s transformation
theorem between well-poised 7 F6 -series and balanced 4 F3 -series. Three summation the-
orems plus an extension of Karlsson–Minton formula for the Fox–Wright function will be
shown in Section 5. Finally, the paper will end with Section 6, where further three strange
summation formulae will be established.

2. Divided differences and properties

To facilitate the subsequent application, it is necessary to review some basic facts about
divided differences (see, e.g. Milne-Thomson [11, Chapter 1] and Chu [12,13]). For a com-
plex function F(y) and uneven spaced grid points {xk }nk=0 , the divided differences with
respect to y are defined in succession as follows:
F(x0 ) − F(x1 )
[x0 , x1 ]F(y) = ,
x0 − x1
[x0 , x1 ]F(y) − [x1 , x2 ]F(y)
[x0 , x1 , x2 ]F(y) = ,
x0 − x2
.
. . . .. . . .
[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm−1 ]F(y) − [x1 , x2 , . . . , xm ]F(y)
[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm ]F(y) = ;
x0 − xm
which can also be expressed as

m 

[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm ]F(y) = [xk , y]F(y)  (2.1)

k=1 y=x0
 INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS 3

and the symmetric formula


m
F(xk )
[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm ]F(y) = . (2.2)
k=0 i=k (xk − xi )

There exists also the Leibniz formula for the product of two functions
 m
[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm ] F(y)G(y) = [x0 , x1 , . . . , xk ]F(y)[xk , xk+1 , . . . , xm ]G(y).
k=0

In particular, for a monic polynomial Pn (y) of degree n ≤ m, we have the following explicit
formulae (cf. [13,14]) for divided differences:
[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm ]Pn (y) = χ (m = n), (2.3)
Pn (y) (−1)m Pn (λ)
[x0 , x1 , . . . , xm ] = m ; (2.4)
y−λ k=0 (xk − λ)
where χ is a logical function with χ (true) = 1 and χ (false) = 0, otherwise.
Now specifying the three sequences by
a 2 a 2  a 2
Xk := + k , Bi := − b + i , Dj := 1 + − d − j ;
2 2 2
we can compute the following products
m m
1 1
=
Xk − Xi (a + k + i)(k − i)
i=0 i=0
i=k i=k
 
(−1)m−k m a + 2k (a)k
=
m!(1 + a)m k a (1 + a + m)k
 
(−1)m a + 2k a, −m
= ;
m!(1 + a)m a 1, 1 + a + m k
n n  
(Xk − Bi ) = (a − b + k + i)(b + k − i)
i=1 i=1
(1 + a − b)n+k (b − n)n+k
=
(1 + a − b)k (b − n)k
 
b, 1 + a − b + n
= (−1)n (1 − b)n (1 + a − b)n ;
1 + a − b, b − n k

1 1
=
j=1
Xk − Dj j=1
(1 + a − d + k − j)(d + k + j − 1)

1
=
(1 + a − d + k − ) (d + k)
 
(−1) d, 1 + a − d −
= .
(d) (d − a) 1 + a − d, d + k
4 W. CHU

They will be utilized in the sequel to express divided differences explicitly.

As a warm up, we examine the well-known Dougall sum. According to (2.2) and (2.3),
we have the following very well-poised series.

Lemma 2.1: Let m and n be two non-negative integers. For Xk := (a/2 + k)2 and Bi :=
(a/2 − b + i)2 , the following divided differences can be expressed in terms of very well-poised
hypergeometric series:
n
(1 − b)n (1 + a − b)n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] (y − Bi ) = (−1)m+n
i=1
m!(1 + a)m
 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, 1 + a − b + n 
× 5 F4 a 1 .
2, 1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n

In particular, when 0 ≤ n ≤ m, we have the closed formula

 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, 1 + a − b + n  m!(1 + a)m
5 F4 a 1 = χ (m = n) . (2.5)
2 , 1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n
(1 − b)m (1 + a − b)m

The formula just displayed is a very particular case of very well-poised 5 F4 -series.
However this is sufficient for us to demonstrate Dougall’s general theorem.

Theorem 2.2 (Dougall [15]: see Bailey [1, Section 4.4] also):
   
a, 1 + a2 , b, d, −m 
  1 + a, 1 + a − b − d
5 F4 a  1 = 1 + a − b, 1 + a − d .
, 1 + a − b, 1 + a − d, 1 + a + m
2 m
(2.6)

Proof: Multiplying across the last equation by (1 + a − b)m , we would get a polynomial
identity of degree m in b. To confirm it, we need only to show Equation (2.6) for m + 1
distinct values of b.
Denote by R(b) the left member of (2.6). For n = 0, 1, . . . , m, we can evaluate R(1 +
a − d + n), according to (2.5), as
 
a, 1 + a2 , d, 1 + a − d + n, −m  m!(1 + a)m χ (m = n)

5 F4 1 = ,
a
2 , 1 + a − d, d − n, 1 + a + m (1 − d)m (1 + a − d)m

which coincides with the right member of (2.6) specified with b = 1 + a−d + n. Therefore
we have validated equality (2.6) for the m + 1 distinct values {b = 1 + a − d + n}m
n=0 . This
completes the proof of Theorem 2.5. 

In view of Theorem 2.2, we can evaluate, also when m < n, the series
 
a, 1 + a2 , b, 1 + a − b + n, −m  (1 + a)m (−n)m

5 F4 1 = .
a
2 , 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 + a + m
(1 + a − b)m (b − n)m

Combining this with Lemma 2.1, we get a closed formula for the divided differences of a
polynomial whose degree is even greater than the order of differences.
 INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS 5

Corollary 2.3 (Extension of Lemma 2.1): Let m and n be two non-negative integers. For
Xk := (a/2 + k)2 and Bi := (a/2 − b + i)2 , we have the following closed expression for the
divided differences:
n  
n (b − n)n (1 + a − b)n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] (y − Bi ) = .
m (b − n)m (1 + a − b)m
i=1

Similarly, we may examine the differences of the following faction

1 (−1)m+
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] =
j=1
y − Dj m!(1 + a)m (d) (d − a)
 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, d, 1 + a − d − 

× 5 F4 a 1 .
2 , 1 + a + m, 1 + a − d, d +

Evaluating the last 5 F4 -series by means of Theorem 2.2

 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, d, 1 + a − d −  (1 + a)m ( )m

5 F4 1 =
a
2 , 1 + a + m, 1 + a − d, d +
(d + )m (1 + a − d)m

we get another closed formula for the divided differences of higher order.

Corollary 2.4 (Reciprocal formula of Corollary 2.3): Let m and n be two non-negative
integers. For Xk := (a/2 + k)2 and Dj := (1 + a/2 − d − j)2 , we have the following closed
expression for the divided differences:
− 
1 m
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] = .
j=1
y − Dj (d)m+ (1 + a − d − )m+

3. Dougall’s well-poised 7 F6 -series

Following the derivation of Lemma 2.1, we can establish the expression below.

Lemma 3.1: Let m, n and be three non-negative integers. For Xk := (a/2 + k)2 , Bi :=
(a/2 − b + i)2 and Dj := (a/2 − d + j)2 , the following divided differences can be expressed
in terms of very well-poised hypergeometric series:
n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] (y − Bi ) (y − Dj )
i=1 j=1

(1 − b)n (1 + a − b)n (1 − d) (1 + a − d)
= (−1)m+n+
m!(1 + a)m
 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, 1 + a − b + n, d, 1 + a − d + 

× 7 F6 a 1 .
2 , 1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 + a − d, d −
6 W. CHU

In particular, when 0 ≤ n + ≤ m, we have the closed formula

 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, 1 + a − b + n, d, 1 + a − d + 

7 F6 a 1
2 , 1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 + a − d, d −
χ (m = n + )m!(1 + a)m
= . (3.1)
(1 − b)n (1 + a − b)n (1 − d) (1 + a − d)

The last series is not two–balanced except for m = n + + 1. Therefore it is not con-
tained as a special case of Dougall’s identity for the terminating very well-poised 7 F6 -series,
that we are in position to present a new proof.

Theorem 3.2 (Dougall [15]: see Bailey [1, Section 4.3] also):

⎡ ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , b, c, d, e, −m 
⎢   ⎥
7 F6 ⎣  1⎦
a
, 1 + a − b, 1 + a − c, 1 + a − d, 1 + a − e, 1 + a + m 
2 
 
1 + a, 1 + a − b − c, 1 + a − b − d, 1 + a − c − d
= , (3.2)
1 + a − b, 1 + a − c, 1 + a − d, 1 + a − b − c − d m

where 1 + 2a + m = b + c + d + e so that the series is two–balanced.

Proof: For the last equation, replacing e by 1 + 2a−b−c−d + m and then multiplying
across it by (1 + a − c)m (1 + a − b − c − d)m , we can check without difficulty that the
resulting equation becomes a polynomial identity of degree 2m in c. In order to prove it, it
suffices to show the equality (3.2) for 2m + 1 distinct values of c.
Denote by S(c) the 7 F6 -series in the theorem. According to (3.1), it is not hard to check
S(a − b + n) = S(a − d + n) = 0 for 1 ≤ n ≤ m. In addition, it is trivial to see that S(0) =
1. Therefore, we have validated the equality (3.2) for the following 2m + 1 distinct values
of c:
 m  m
0 a−b+n n=1
a−d+n n=1
.

This completes the proof of Theorem 3.2. 

For 0 ≤ n ≤ m, we can also compute, by (2.4), the following differences

n n
i=1 (y
− Bi ) i=1 (Bi − D)
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] = (−1)m+n m .
y−D j=0 (Xj − D)

According to (2.2), we may write explicitly this equality as follows.

 INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS 7

Corollary 3.3: Let m and n be two non-negative integers with 0 ≤ n ≤ m. For Xk := (a/2 +
k)2 , Bi := (a/2 − b + i)2 and D := (a/2 − d)2 , we have the divided differences
n
i=1 (y
− Bi ) (1 + a − b − d)n (1 − b + d)n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] = (−1)m+n
y−D (d)m+1 (a − d)m+1

and very well-poised hypergeometric series evaluation:

 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, 1 + a − b + n, a−d 
b, d, 
7 F6 a 1
2, 1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 + a − d, 1 + d
m!(1 + a)m (1 + a − b − d)n (1 − b + d)n
= . (3.3)
(1 − b)n (1 + a − b)n (1 + d)m (1 + a − d)m

We point out that the last series does not result in a special case of Theorem 3.2, even
though they coincide with each other when m = n.

4. Whipple’s transformation formula

Let m, n and be three non-negative integers. For Xk := (a/2 + k)2 , Bi := (a/2 − b + i)2
and Dj := (1 + a/2 − d − j)2 , the following divided differences can be expressed in terms
of very well-poised hypergeometric series:
n
i=1 (y − Bi ) (1 − b)n (1 + a − b)n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] = (−1)m+n+
j=1 (y − Dj )
m!(1 + a)m (d) (d − a)
 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, 1 + a − b + n, d, 1 + a − d − 
× 7 F6 a 1 . (4.1)
2 , 1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 + a − d, d +

According to Corollaries 2.3 and 2.4, we can also evaluate the differences

n
(−n)k (b − n)n (1 + a − b)n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xk ] (y − Bi ) = (−1)k ,
i=1
k!(b − n)k (1 + a − b)k

1 (−1)m−k ( )m−k (d)k (1 + a − d − )k

[Xk , Xk+1 , . . . , Xm ] = .
j=1
y − Dj (m − k)!(d)m+ (1 + a − d − )m+

Substituting these expressions into the following equality

n 
m n
i=1 (y − Bi )
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] = [X0 , X1 , . . . , Xk ] (y − Bi )
j=1 (y − Dj ) k=0 i=1

1
× [Xk , Xk+1 , . . . , Xm ]
j=1
(y − Dj )
8 W. CHU

and then simplifying the result, we get the transformation formula

 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, 1 + a − b + n, d, 1 + a − d − 

7 F6 a 1
1 + a + m, 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 + a − d, d +
2,
    
1 + a, −m, −n, d, 1 + a − d − 
= F 1 . (4.2)
1 + a − d, d + m 4 3 1 + a − b, b − n, 1 − m −

Multiplying both sides of this equation by (d + )m (1 − m − )m , we get a polynomial

identity in , because it is valid for infinite many values of > 0. Analogously, the condition
for n being an natural number can also be released in this transformation. By renaming
the parameters → 1 + a − d − e and n → b + c − a − 1 in (4.2), we obtain Whipple’s
transformation between very well-poised series and balanced series.

Theorem 4.1 (Whipple [16]: see Bailey [1, Section 4.3] also):
⎡ ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , b, c, d, e, −m 
⎢   ⎥
7 F6 ⎣   1⎦
a 
2 , 1 + a − b, 1 + a − c, 1 + a − d, 1 + a − e, 1 + a + m
    
1 + a, 1 + a − d − e −m, d, e, 1 + a − b − c 
= F 1 .
1 + a − d, 1 + a − e m 4 3 1 + a − b, 1 + a − c, d + e − a − m

When n = m + − 1, evaluating the 7 F6 -series in (4.1) by Dougall’s summation

theorem (3.2) and then simplifying the product
 
(1 − b)m+ −1 (1 + a − b)m+ −1 1 + a, 1 + a − b − d, , − b + d
×
m!(1 + a)m (d) (d − a) 1 + a − b, 1 + a − d, − b, + d m
 
1 + a − b − d, , − b + d (1 − b) −1 (1 + a − b + m) −1
= ×
1, 1 + a − d, + d m (d) (d − a)

we get the following closed formula for divided differences.

Corollary 4.2: Let m and be two non-negative integers. For Xk := ( a2 + k)2 , Bi := (a/2 −
b + i)2 and Dj := (1 + a/2 − d − j)2 , we have the closed formula

m+ −1
i=1 (y − Bi ) (−b) (a − b + m)
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] =
j=1 (y − Dj ) b(a − b + m)(d) (d − a)
 
1 + a − b − d, , − b + d
× .
1, 1 + a − d, + d m

5. Summation formulae for Fox–Wright function

The Fox–Wright -function (cf. [17,18] is an extension of the classical hypergeo-
metric series. Following Miller and Moskowitz [19], we shall adopt their modified
 INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS 9

normalization
   ∞ k p
(a1 , λ1 ), (a2 , λ2 ), . . . , (ap , λp ) z i=1 (ai )kλi
p q z = . (5.1)
(b1 , ρ1 ), (b2 , ρ2 ), . . . , (bq , ρq ) q
j=1 (bj )kρj
k!
k=0

This series will reduce to the usual hypergeometric series when λi = ρj = 1 for all 1 ≤ i ≤
p and 1 ≤ j ≤ q. When there are multiple λ’s appearing in the -function, we shall briefly
write

(a, b, . . . , c; λ) = {(a, λ), (b, λ), . . . , (c, λ)}.

For the three sequences given by

a 2 a 2  
j−1 2
Xk := 2 +k , Bi := 2 − b + i/λ , Dj := a
2 −d− ρ ;

we can express the three products in terms of shifted factorials

m m
1 1
=
i=0
Xk − Xi i=0
(a + k + i)(k − i)
i=k i=k
 
(−1)m−k m a + 2k (a)k
=
m!(1 + a)m k a (1 + a + m)k
 
(−1) m a + 2k a, −m
= ;
m!(1 + a)m a 1, 1 + a + m k
n n  
(Xk − Bi ) = (a − b + k + i/λ)(b + k − i/λ)
i=1 i=1
(1 + aλ − bλ + kλ)n (bλ + kλ − n)n
=
λ2n
 
(1 + aλ − bλ)n (bλ − n)n bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ + n
= ;
λ2n 1 + aλ − bλ, bλ − n kλ

1 ρ2
=
j=1
X k − Dj j=1
(1 + aρ − dρ + kρ − j)(dρ + kρ + j − 1)

ρ2
=
(1 + aρ − dρ + kρ − ) (dρ + kρ)
 
ρ2 dρ, 1 + aρ − dρ −
= .
(1 + aρ − dρ − ) (dρ) 1 + aρ − dρ, dρ + kρ

They will be utilized to express divided differences as Fox–Wright function. Further iden-
tities about this function can be found in Chu–Wang [20], where the inversion techniques
were employed.
10 W. CHU

5.1. Difference of a polynomial

According to (2.2), we derive the formula below for Fox–Wright function.

Theorem 5.1: Let m and n be two non-negative integers. For Xk := (a/2 + k)2 and Bi :=
(a/2 − b + i/λ)2 , the following divided differences can be expressed in terms of Fox–Wrighe
function:
n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] (y − Bi )
i=1
(1 + aλ − bλ)n (bλ − n)n
= (−1)m
m!(1 + a)m λ2n

m    
a + 2k a, −m bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ + n
× .
a 1, 1 + a + m k 1 + aλ − bλ, bλ − n kλ
k=0

In particular, when 0 ≤ n ≤ m, we have the closed formula

⎡    ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , −m; 1 , bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ + n; λ 
⎢  ⎥
4 ⎣ a    1⎦
5 
2 , 1 + a + m; 1 , 1 + aλ − bλ, bλ − n; λ 
 
1, 1 + a
= χ (m = n) λ2m .
1 − bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ m

When λ = 1, this formula returns to (2.5). Instead, for λ = 2, we get the following new
formula
 
a, 1 + a2 , −m, b, b + 12 , 1 + a − b + n2 , 12 + a − b + n2 

7 F6 a 1 n 1 n 1
2 , 1 + a + m, λ + n, 1 + a − b, 2 + a − b, b − 2 , 2 + b − 2 ,
 
1, 1 + a
= χ (m = n) 22m for 0 ≤ n ≤ m, (5.2)
1 − 2b, 1 + 2a − 2b m

which is not covered by Theorem 3.2. Similar formulae can be found in Chu [21].
However, for Xk := (a/2 + k)2 and Dj := (a/2 − d − (j − 1)/ρ)2 , the differences

1 (−1)m+
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] =
j=1
y − Dj m!(1 + a)m (dρ) (dρ − aρ)
⎡    ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , −m; 1 , dρ, 1 + aρ − dρ − ; ρ 
⎢  ⎥
×5 4 ⎣ a    1⎦

2 , 1 + a + m; 1 , 1 + aρ − dρ, dρ + ; ρ 

do not admit a closed formula in general. An exceptional case corresponding to ρ = 1 is

evaluated by Proposition 2.4.
 INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS 11

5.2. Difference of two polynomials

For the product of two polynomials, we have the following formula.

Theorem 5.2: Let m, n and be three non-negative integers. For Xk := (a/2 + k)2 , Bi :=
(a/2 − b + i/λ)2 and Dj := (a/2 − d + j/ρ)2 , the following divided differences can be
expressed in terms of Fox–Wright function:
n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] (y − Bi ) (y − Dj )
i=1 j=1

(1 − bλ)n (1 + aλ − bλ)n (1 − dρ) (1 + aρ − dρ)

= (−1)m+n+
m!(1 + a)m λ2n ρ 2

m      
a + 2k a, −m bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ + n dρ, 1 + aρ − dρ +
× .
a 1, 1 + a + m k 1 + aλ − bλ, bλ − n kλ 1 + aρ − dρ, dρ − kρ
k=0

In particular, when 0 ≤ n + ≤ m, we have the closed formula

⎡    ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , −m; 1 , bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ + n; λ , dρ, 1 + aρ − dρ + ; ρ 
⎢  ⎥
7 6 ⎣ a     1⎦

2 , 1 + a + m; 1 , 1 + aλ − bλ, bλ − n; λ , 1 + aρ − dρ, dρ − ; ρ 

χ (m = n + ) m!(1 + a)m λ2n ρ 2

= . (5.3)
(1 − bλ)n (1 + aλ − bλ)n (1 − dρ) (1 + aρ − dρ)

5.3. Difference of a fraction

For 0 ≤ n ≤ m, we can also compute the following differences
n n
− Bi )
i=1 (y i=1 (Bi − D)
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] = (−1)m+n m .
y−D j=0 (Xj − D)
In view of (2.2), we may write explicitly the last equality in the following theorem.

Theorem 5.3: Let m and n be two non-negative integers with 0 ≤ n ≤ m. For Xk := (a/2 +
k)2 , Bi := (a/2 − b + i/λ)2 and D := (a/2 − d)2 , we have the divided differences
n
− Bi )
i=1 (y (−1)m+n (1 + aλ − bλ − dλ)n (1 − bλ + dλ)n
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ] =
y−D λ2n (d)m+1 (a − d)m+1
and a closed formula for the Fox–Wright function:
⎡    ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , d, a − d, −m; 1 , bλ, 1 + aλ − bλ + n; λ 
⎢  ⎥
7 6 ⎣ a    1⎦

2 , 1 + d, 1 + a − d, 1 + a + m; 1 , 1 + aλ − bλ, bλ − n; λ 
   
1, 1 + a 1 + aλ − bλ − dλ, 1 − bλ + dλ
= . (5.4)
1 + d, 1 + a − d m 1 + aλ − bλ, 1 − bλ n

When λ = 1 and m = n, this series reduces to a special case of Dougall’s 7 F6 -formula

stated in Theorem 3.2.
12 W. CHU

5.4. Extension of Karlsson–Minton formulae

Furthermore, we can also
 extend Karlsson–Minton summation formulae (cf. [22–25]). For
0 ≤ n ≤ m with n = i=1 ni , we can compute by (2.4) the following differences
ni j
i=1 j=1 (y − Bi )
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ]
y−D
ni j
i=1 j=1 (D − Bi )
= [X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ]
y−D
ni j
i=1 j=1 (Bi − D )
= (−1)m+n m ,
k=0 (Xk − D )

j
where Xk , Bi and D are specified in the theorem below. In view of (2.2), the last equality
can be stated explicitly as follows.

Theorem 5.4: Let m, ni and be non-negative integers subject to 0 ≤ n ≤ m and n =

 j
i=1 ni . For Xk := (a/2 + k) , Bi := (a/2 − bi + j/λi ) and D = (a/2 − d) , we have the
2 2 2

divided differences
ni j
i=1 j=1 (y − Bi )
[X0 , X1 , . . . , Xm ]
y−D

(−1)m+n (1 + aλi − bi λi − dλi )ni (1 − bi λi + dλi )ni

=
(d)m+1 (a − d)m+1 i=1 λ2n
i
i

and a closed formula for Fox–Wright function:

⎡     ⎤
a, 1 + a2 , d, a − d, −n; 1 , bi λi , 1 + aλi − bi λi + ni ; λi i=1 
⎢  ⎥
5+2 2 +4 ⎣ a     1⎦

2 , 1 + d, 1 + a − d, 1 + a + m; 1 , 1 + aλi − bi λi , bi λi − ni ; λi i=1 

   
1, 1 + a 1 + aλi − bi λi − dλi , 1 − bi λi + dλi
= .
1 + d, 1 + a − d m i=1
1 + aλi − bi λi , 1 − bi λi ni

6. Three further summation formulae

Alternatively, by specifying the three sequences

Xk := (a + k)1+σ , Bi := (b + i)1+σ , Dj := (d + j)1+σ ;

we may compute the three related products

m  
1 (−1)m−k m (1 + σ )(a + k)σ
= m ;
i=0
Xk − Xi m! k i=0 a + k, a + i σ
i=k
 INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND SPECIAL FUNCTIONS 13

n n
(a − b − n)n+k
(Xk − Bi ) = a + k, b + i σ ;
i=1
(a − b − n)k i=1

1 (a − d − )k 1
= ;
j=1
Xk − Dj (a − d − ) +k j=1
a + k, d + j σ

where we have introduced the notation for the finite sum

σ

x, y σ = xκ yσ −κ .
κ=0

Then by carrying out the same procedures as those for Theorems 5.1–5.3, we can establish
the following three strange summation formulae. When σ = 1, they become formulae for
classical hypergeometric series.

Theorem 6.1 (m, n ∈ N0 with 0 ≤ n ≤ m):

m   σ n
k m (a + k) (a − b)k i=1 a + k, b + i σ m!χ (m = n)
(−1) m = .
k (a − b − n)k j=0 a + k, a + j σ (1 + σ )(1 − a + b)m
k=0

Theorem 6.2 (m, n,  ∈ N0 with 0 ≤ n +  ≤ m):


m   σ n
k m (a + k) (a − b)k (a − d)k i=1 a + k, b + i σ i=1 a + k, d + i σ
(−1) m
k (a − b − n)k (a − d − )k j=0 a + k, a + j σ
k=0
m!χ (m = n + )
= .
(1 + σ )(1 − a + b)n (1 − a + d)

Theorem 6.3 (m, n ∈ N0 with 0 ≤ n ≤ m):


m   σ n
k m (a + k) (a − d)(a − b)k i=1 a + k, b + i σ
(−1)
k (a − d + k)(a − b − n)k a + k, d σ m j=0 a + k, a + j σ
k=0
m!(1 + b − d)n
= .
(1 + σ )(1 − a + b)n (1 + a − d)m

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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