On Brousseau sums of generalized Padovan numbers

Prabha Sivaraman Nair1
1Department of Mathematics, Baby John Memorial Government College, Chavara, Kerala, India

Abstract

The Padovan sequence \((P_n)_{n\geq 0}\) is defined by the third-order linear recurrence \(P_n=P_{n-2}+P_{n-3}\) for \(n\geq 3\), with initial terms \(P_0=1\) and \(P_1=P_2=0\). We derive closed forms for the weighted finite sums \(\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} i^mP_i\) for all integers \(m\geq 0\) and \(n\geq 1\). The construction introduces an alternating integer sequence \((\mathcal{A}^{(m)})_{m\geq 0}\) and a family of coefficient polynomials \(\mathcal{C}^{(m)}(x)\) whose shifted evaluations determine the coefficients of \(P_n\), \(P_{n+1}\), and \(P_{n+2}\). The resulting formula unifies the cases \(m=0,1,2,\ldots\) and provides an effective recurrence, together with an exponential generating function, for the coefficients. The same polynomial family also gives explicit weighted-sum identities for arbitrary sequences satisfying the Padovan recurrence, including the Perrin and Van der Laan sequences.

Keywords: Brousseau sums, generalized Padovan numbers, Padovan numbers, Perrin numbers, Van der Laan numbers