Catalan matrix and related combinatorial identities

Abstract

We introduce the notion of the Catalan matrix C n [ x ] whose non-zero elements are expressions which contain the Catalan numbers arranged into a lower triangular Toeplitz matrix. Inverse of the Catalan matrix is derived. Correlations between the matrix C n [ x ] and the generalized Pascal matrix are considered. Some combinatorial identities involving Catalan numbers, binomial coefficients and the generalized hypergeometric function are derived using these correlations. Moreover, an additional explicit representation of the Catalan number, as well as an explicit representation of the sum of the first m Catalan numbers are given.