A generalization of the Gaussian formula and a q-analog of Fleck's congruence

Abstract

The q-binomial coefficients are the polynomial cousins of the traditional binomial coefficients, and a number of identities for binomial coefficients can be translated into this polynomial setting. For instance, the familiar vanishing of the alternating sum across row n of Pascal's triangle is captured by the so-called Gaussian Formula. In this paper, we find a q-binomial congruence which synthesizes this result and Fleck's congruence for binomial coefficients.