Bol. Soc. Mat. Mex.

(2023) 29:72
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40590-023-00538-8

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions

Darlison Nyirenda1,2 · Beaullah Mugwangwavari1,2

Received: 20 February 2023 / Accepted: 15 August 2023

© The Author(s) 2023

Abstract
Motivated by Andrews’ partitions with initial repetitions, we derive parity formulas
for several functions for this class of partitions. In many cases, we present an infinite
family of Ramanujan-type congruences modulo 2.

Keywords Partition · Generating function · Congruence

Mathematics Subject Classification 11P81 · 11P83 · 11A07

1 Introduction

A partition of n is a representation λ  = λ1 +λ2 +· · ·+λs where λi ’s are positive integers

s
with λ1 ≥ λ2 ≥ · · · ≥ λs ≥ 1 and i=1 λi = n. The summand λi is called a part of
λ, and the number of times this summand appears is called its multiplicity. Mostly, we
use the multiplicity notation in which different parts appear with their multiplicities.
m
We may write λ = (μm m2
1 , μ2 , . . . , μ ) in which m i is the multiplicity of the part
1

μi and μ1 > μ2 > · · · > μ . At times, restrictions are made on μi ’s and m i ’s. In
this case, we are said to have restricted partitions which induce restricted partition
functions. For more examples on this subject, one can refer to [4]. One interesting
example is the case of partitions with initial repetitions, introduced by Andrews [1].
Andrews defined a partition with initial k-repetitions as one in which if j appears at
least k times, all positive integers less than j appear at least k times. This definition
entails that all parts greater than j have their multiplicites strictly less than k. Using
generating functions, Andrews proved that the number of partitions of n with initial

B Darlison Nyirenda
darlison.nyirenda@wits.ac.za
Beaullah Mugwangwavari
712040@students.wits.ac.za

1 The John Knopfmacher Centre for Applicable Analysis and Number Theory, University of the
Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg 2000, Gauteng, South Africa
2 School of Mathematics, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg 2000,
Gauteng, South Africa

0123456789().: V,-vol
 72 Page 2 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

k-repetitions is equal to the number of partitions of n into parts with multiplicies not
more than 2k − 1. A bijective proof of this identity was established by Keith [2], and
later, a simpler version thereof was given in [3].
Much of the work in this area has dwelt on partition identities and combinatorial
bijections. In this paper, we study a class of partitions with initial repetitions with
respect to parity. We derive modulo 2 congruences for partition functions associated
with partitions in this category. We recall the following notation:
For a, q ∈ C and n a positive integer, (a; q)n = (1 − q)(1 ∞− aq)(1 −n aq ) · · · (1 −
2

aq n−1 ) and (a; q)0 = 1. If |q| < 1, we have (q; q)∞ = n=0 (1 − aq ) and so

(a; q)∞
(a; q)n = .
(aq n ; q)∞

Throughout our discussion, we assume that |q| < 1. Some of the q-identities which
will be useful include:
∞
 ∞

z n q n(n+1)/2 = (1 − q n )(1 + zq n )(1 + z −1 q n−1 ) (1)
n=−∞ n=1

for z = 0. Other useful q-identities:

∞
 ∞

2 1 − qn
(−1)n q n = , (2)
n=−∞
1 + qn
n=1
∞ ∞

q n −n z n
2

= (1 − zq n )−1 , (3)
(q; q)n (z; q)n
n=0 n=0
∞ ∞

(−1) (2n + 1)q
n n(n+1)/2
= (1 − q n )3 . (4)
n=0 n=1

The results in this paper arise by examining the following identities of Rogers-
Ramanujan type due to Slater (see [5]):

∞
 ∞
 ∞

q n(n+1)
(1 − q n ) = (1 − q 4n )(1 − q 4n−1 )(1 − q 4n−3 ), (5)
(q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ 2 ∞

qn
(1 − q n ) = (1 − q 5n )(1 − q 5n−2 )(1 − q 5n−3 ), (6)
(q; q)n
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ ∞
(1 − q 2n )  (−1)n q n 
2
= (1 − q 6n )(1 − q 6n−2 )(1 − q 6n−4 ), (7)
(1 − q 2n−1 ) (q ; q )n
2 2
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞
 ∞

q 2n(n+1) (−q; q 2 )n
(1 − q 2n ) = (1 − q 6n )(1 + q 6n−1 )(1 + q 6n−5 ), (8)
(q; q )n+1 (q ; q )n
2 4 4
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ ∞
(1 − q 2n )  q n (−q; q 2 )n 
2
= (1 − q 6n )(1 + q 6n−2 )(1 + q 6n−4 ), (9)
(1 + q 2n−1 ) (q; q)2n
n=1 n=0 n=1
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 3 of 16 72

∞
 ∞
 ∞

q 2n(n+1)
(1 − q 2n ) = (1 − q 7n )(1 − q 7n−1 )(1 − q 7n−6 ), (10)
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q; q)2n+1
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ ∞

q 2n(n+1)
(1 − q 2n ) = (1 − q 7n )(1 − q 7n−2 )(1 − q 7n−5 ), (11)
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q; q)2n
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ 2n 2 ∞
q
(1 − q 2n ) = (1 − q 7n )(1 − q 7n−3 )(1 − q 7n−4 ), (12)
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q; q)2n
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ ∞
(1 − q 2n )  q n (−q; q 2 )n 
2
= (1 − q 8n )(1 − q 8n−3 )(1 − q 8n−5 ), (13)
(1 + q 2n+1 ) (q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=1 n=0 n=1
∞ ∞ n(n+2)
 ∞

q (−q; q 2 )n
(1 − q n ) = (1 − q 12n )(1 − q 12n−2 )(1 − q 12n−10 ). (14)
(q; q)2n+1
n=1 n=0 n=1

We present our results in Sect. 2.

2 Modulo 2 congruences

Unless otherwise specified, all congruence equations involving q-series are taken
modulo 2. So the statement a ≡ b, where a and b are two expressions involving q-
series, shall mean a ≡ b (mod 2). We start by investigating a variation of Andrews’
partitions with initial 2-repetitions as follows:
Let c1 (n) be the number of partitions of n in which either
(a) all parts are distinct
or
(b) there is an odd repeated part 2 j −1 and all positive integers less than 2 j −1 appear
as repeated parts, any part greater than 2 j is distinct.
Then, we do get the following parity formula for c1 (n).
Theorem 1 For all n ≥ 0,

c1 (n) ≡ 1 (mod 2) ⇐⇒ n = j( j + 1)/2, j ≥ 0.

Proof
∞
 ∞
 ∞
 ∞

q 1+1+2+2+...+(2n−1)+(2n−1)
c1 (n)q n = (1 + q j ) + (1 + q j )
(q; q)2n
n=0 j=1 n=1 j=2n+1
∞
 ∞

q 1+1+2+2+...+(2n−1)+(2n−1)
= (1 + q j )
(q; q)2n
n=0 j=2n+1

∞
∞ (1 + q j )
 q 4n −2n j=1
2

=
(q; q)2n 2n
n=0 (1 + q j )
j=1
 72 Page 4 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

∞
 q 4n −2n
2

= (−q; q)∞
(q; q)2n (−q; q)2n
n=0
∞
 q 4n −2n
2

= (−q; q)∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )2n
n=0
∞
 q 4n −2n
2

= (−q; q)∞
(q ; q 4 )n (q 2 ; q 4 )n
4
n=0
∞
1
= (−q; q)∞ (z = q 2 , q := q 4 in (3))
1 − q 2+4n
n=0
(−q; q 2 )∞ (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞
=
(−q; q 2 )∞ (q; q 2 )∞
(q 4 ; q 4 )∞
=
(q; q)∞
≡ (q; q)3
∞

≡ q n(n+1)/2 .
n=0

Let c2 (n) be the number of partitions of n in which there exists j ≥ 1 such that j
appears exactly j times and it is the only part less than 2 j + 1, even parts ≥ 2 j + 2 are
distinct, odd parts ≥ 2 j + 1 appear unrestricted. Then we have the following theorem.
Theorem 2 For all n ≥ 0,

c2 (5n + 2) ≡ 0 (mod 2).

Proof
∞
 ∞
 2
q n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
c2 (n)q =
n
(q 2n+1 ; q 2 )∞
n=0 n=1
∞ 2
q n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞ (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= −
(q 2n+1 ; q )∞
2 (q; q 2 )∞
n=0
∞ 2
q n (q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
≡ + (q 2 ; q 2 )∞ (−q; q)∞
(q 2n+1 ; q 2 )∞
n=0
∞
 2
q n (−q; q 2 )n (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= + (q; q)3∞
(−q; q 2 )∞ (q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=0
∞ ∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )∞  q n (−q; q 2 )n 
2

= + (−1)n (2n + 1)q n(n+1)/2

(−q; q 2 )∞ (q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=0 n=0
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 5 of 16 72

∞ 
    ∞
≡ 1 − q 8n−3 1 − q 8n−5 1 − q 8n + q n(n+1)/2
n=1 n=0
(by (13) and (4))
∞
 ∞

2 +n
≡ q 4n + q n(n+1)/2 (by (1)).
n=−∞ n=0

Since there is no integer n such that 4n 2 +n ≡ 2 (mod 5) or n(n +1)/2 ≡ 2 (mod 5),
it must follow that c2 (5n + 2) ≡ 0 (mod 2).

For instance, there are two partitions of 7 enumerated by c2 (7). These are: (6, 1)
and (32 , 1). Thus c2 (7) ≡ 0 (mod 2).
Let c3 (n) be the number of partitions of n in which, there is a positive integer j
such that 1 appears with multiplicities j 2 or j 2 + 1, odd parts > 1 are distinct, all even
parts are distinct and those > 2 j are at least 4 j + 4 in size and divisible by 4, no even
integer in the set {2 j + 2, 2 j + 4, . . . , 4 j + 2} appears as a part. Then

∞
 ∞
 2 times)
c3 (n)q n = q 1+1+···+1(n (1 + q)(−q 3 ; q 2 )∞ (−q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q 4n+4 ; q 4 )∞
n=0 n=1
∞
 2
≡ q n (1 + q)(−q 3 ; q 2 )∞ (−q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞ (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n=1
∞
2
= q n (−q; q 2 )∞ (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞ (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n=1
∞
 2
= q n (−q; q)∞ (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n=1
∞
 2 (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= (−q; q)∞ qn
q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=1
∞
 2
(q 2 ; q 2 ) ∞ qn
≡
(q; q 2 )∞ (q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=1
∞
 2
(q 2 ; q 2 ) ∞ (−1)n q n
≡
(q; q 2 ) ∞ n=1 (q ; q )n
2 2
∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )∞  (−1)n q n
2

≡ −1
(q; q 2 )∞ (q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=0
∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )∞  (−1)n q n
2
(q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= −
(q; q )∞
2 (q ; q )n
2 2 (q; q 2 )∞
n=0
(q 2 ; q 2 )∞
≡ (q 2 ; q 6 )∞ (q 4 ; q 6 )∞ (q 6 ; q 6 )∞ + (by (7))
(q; q 2 )∞
 72 Page 6 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

∞
 ∞

= q n(3n+1) + q n(n+1)/2 (by (1)).
n=−∞ n=0

Note that, for all n ∈ Z, we have n(3n + 1) ≡ 0, 2, 4 (mod 5) and for all n ∈
Z≥0 , n(n + 1)/2 ≡ 0, 1, 3 (mod 5). More specifically, we have n(3n + 1) ≡ 0
(mod 5) ⇐⇒ n ≡ 0, 3 (mod 5), n(3n + 1) ≡ 2 (mod 5) ⇐⇒ n ≡ 4
(mod 5), n(3n + 1) ≡ 4 (mod 5) ⇐⇒ n ≡ 1, 2 (mod 5), n(n + 1)/2 ≡ 0
(mod 5) ⇐⇒ n ≡ 0, 4 (mod 5), n(n + 1)/2 ≡ 1 (mod 5) ⇐⇒ n ≡ 1, 3
(mod 5) and n(n + 1)/2 ≡ 3 (mod 5) ⇐⇒ n ≡ 2 (mod 5). Hence

∞
 
c3 (5n + 1)q 5n+1 ≡ q n(n+1)/2 (mod 2),
n=0 n≥1,n≡1,3 (mod 5)
∞  ∞

c3 (5n + 2)q 5n+2 ≡ q n(3n+1) = q (5n+4)(15n+13) (mod 2),
n=0 n≡4 (mod 5) n=−∞
∞  ∞

c3 (5n + 3)q 5n+3 ≡ q n(n+1)/2 = q (5n+2)(5n+3)/2
n=0 n>1,n≡2 (mod 5) n=0

and
∞
 
c3 (5n + 4)q 5n+4 ≡ q n(3n+1)
n=0 n≡1,2 (mod 5)

so that we have the following.

Theorem 3 For all n ≥ 0,

j( j + 1) − 2
c3 (5n + 1) ≡ 1 (mod 2) iff n = , j ≥ 1 and j ≡ 1, 3 (mod 5),
10
(5 j + 4)(15 j + 13) − 2
c3 (5n + 2) ≡ 1 (mod 2) iff n = , j ∈ Z.
5
(5 j + 2)(5 j + 3) − 6
c3 (5n + 3) ≡ 1 (mod 2) iff n = , j ≥ 0,
10
j(3 j + 1) − 4
c3 (5n + 4) ≡ 1 (mod 2) iff n = , j ∈ Z and j ≡ 1, 2 (mod 5).
5

Recall that
∞
 ∞
 ∞

c3 (n)q n ≡ q n(3n+1) + q n(n+1)/2 .
n=0 n=−∞ n=0

Observe that none of the exponents n(3n + 1) or n(n + 1)/2 is congruent to 5, 7, 9

modulo 11. Thus, we have:
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 7 of 16 72

Theorem 4 For all n ≥ 0,

c3 (11n + 5) ≡ 0 (mod 2),

c3 (11n + 7) ≡ 0 (mod 2),
c3 (11n + 9) ≡ 0 (mod 2).

Let c4 (n) denote the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) all parts are even and distinct
or
(b) there is an even part 2 j which appears twice, all positive even integers < 2 j appear
twice, any even part larger than 2 j is actually ≥ 4 j + 2 and distinct, odd parts are
distinct and at most 2 j − 1 in part size.
Then we have the following theorem.
Theorem 5 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = (7 j + 3 j)/2, j ∈ Z;
2

c4 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2), otherwise.

Proof Note that

  
n ∞

c4 (n)q n = (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞ + q 2+2+4+4+···+2n+2n (1 + q 2i−1 ) (1 + q 4n+2 j )
n≥0 n≥1 i=1 j=1

= q 2n(n+1) (−q; q 2 )n (−q 4n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n≥0

≡ q 2n(n+1) (q; q 2 )n (q 4n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n≥0
 (q 2 ; q 2 )2n 4n+2 2
= q 2n(n+1) (q; q 2 )n (q ; q )∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )2n
n≥0
 (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= q 2n(n+1) (q; q 2 )n
(q 2 ; q 2 )2n
n≥0
 (q; q 2 )n
= (q 2 ; q 2 )∞ q 2n(n+1)
(q; q)2n (−q; q)2n
n≥0
 q 2n(n+1)
= (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q; q)2n
n≥0

≡ (1 − q 7n )(1 + q 7n−2 )(1 + q 7n−5 ) (by (11))
n≥1
∞
2
≡ q (7n +3n)/2 .
n=−∞
 72 Page 8 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

Let c5 (n) denote the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) all parts are even and distinct
or
(b) odd parts appear twice or thrice and are gap-free, even parts are distinct and the
smallest even part is ≥ 2(the largest odd part) + 4.
Then parity of c5 (n) can be deduced from the following.
Theorem 6 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = (7 j + j)/2, j ∈ Z;
2

c5 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2), otherwise.

Proof It is clear that

 
c5 (n)q n = (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞ + q 1+1+3+3+...+2n−1 (−q; q 2 )n (−q 4n+2 ; q 2 )∞ ,
n≥0 n≥1

and by a similar manipulation as in Theorem 5, we have

  2
q 2n
c5 (n)q n ≡ (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q; q)2n
n≥0 n≥0

≡ (1 − q )(1 + q 7n−3 )(1 + q 7n−4 ) (by (12))
7n

n≥1
∞
q (7n
2 +n)/2
≡ .
n=−∞

Let c6 (n) denote the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) 1 is the only odd integer that may appear and even parts are distinct
or
(b) there is an even part 2 j that appears twice, all positive even integers < 2 j appear
twice, any even part larger than 2 j is actually ≥ 4 j + 2 and distinct, odd parts are
≤ 2 j + 1 and those ≤ 2 j − 1 are distinct.
We have:
Theorem 7 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = (7 j 2 + 5 j)/2, j ∈ Z;
c6 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2), otherwise.
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 9 of 16 72

Proof The generating function for the partition function in question is

 (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞  2+2+4+4+...2n+2n (−q; q 2 )n

c6 (n)q n = + q (−q 4n+2 ; q 2 )∞ .
1−q 1 − q 2n+1
n≥0 n≥1

However, by a similar manipulation as in the proof of Theorem 5, we find that

  q 2n(n+1)
c6 (n)q n ≡ (q 2 ; q 2 )∞ (mod 2)
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (−q; q)2n+1
n≥0 n≥0

≡ (1 − q 7n )(1 + q 7n−1 )(1 + q 7n−6 ) (by (10))
n≥1
∞
q (7n
2 +5n)/2
≡ .
n=−∞

Let c7 (n) denote the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) even parts are ≡ 2 (mod 4) and distinct, and 1 is the only odd integer that may
appear
or
(b) the largest even part 2 j appears exactly twice if 2 j ≡ 0 (mod 4), and appears
twice or thrice if 2 j ≡ 2 (mod 4), all positive even integers < 2 j and ≡ 0
(mod 4) are repeated exactly twice, and those < 2 j and ≡ 2 (mod 4) appear
twice or thrice, any even part larger than 2 j that is divisible by 4 is actually at least
4 j + 4 in part size and distinct, even parts that are > 2 j and ≡ 2 (mod 4) are
distinct and 2 j + 1 is the only odd integer that may appear.
The following result follows:
Theorem 8 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = 3 j + 2 j, j ∈ Z;
2

c7 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2), otherwise.

Proof Note that

 (−q 2 ; q 4 )∞  q 2(2+4+6+···+2n)
c7 (n)q n = + (−q 2 ; q 4 )∞ (−q 4n+4 ; q 4 )∞
1−q 1 − q 2n+1
n≥0 n≥1
 q 2n(n+1)
≡ (q 2 ; q 4 )∞ (q 4n+4 ; q 4 )∞
1 − q 2n+1
n≥0
 q 2n(n+1) (q 4 ; q 4 )∞
= (q 2
; q 4
) ∞
1 − q 2n+1 (q 4 ; q 4 )n
n≥0
 72 Page 10 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

 q 2n(n+1)
= (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
(1 − q 2n+1 )(q 4 ; q 4 )n
n≥0
 q 2n(n+1) (q; q 2 )n
= (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
(1 − q 2n+1 ) (q; q 2 )n (q 4 ; q 4 )n
n≥0
 q 2n(n+1) (−q; q 2 )n
≡ (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
(q; q 2 )n+1 (q 4 ; q 4 )n
n≥0

= (1 − q )(1 + q 6n−5 )(1 + q 6n−1 ) (by (8))
6n

n≥1
∞
2 +2n
≡ q 3n .
n=−∞

Let c8 (n) denote the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) all parts are even and distinct
or
(b) there is the largest odd part 2 j − 1 which appears once, all positive odd integers
≤ j appear once or twice, all positive odd integers > j appear once, even parts
≤ j are distinct, and those > j are distinct and actually ≥ 2 j + 2 in size.
We obtain the following theorem.
Theorem 9 For all n ≥ 0,

c8 (49n + r ) ≡ 0 (mod 2),

where r = 6, 20, 27, 34, 41, 48.

Proof It is not difficult to see that

 
c8 (n)q n = (−q 2 ; q 2 )∞ + q 1+3+5+...+2n−1 (1 + q)(1 + q 2 ) . . . (1 + q n )(−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n≥0 n≥1
 2
= q n (−q; q)n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
n≥0
 2 (q; q)n
= qn (−q; q)n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
(q; q)n
n≥0
 2 (q 2 ; q 2 )n 2n+2 2
≡ qn (q ; q )∞
(q; q)n
n≥0
 qn
2
= (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
(q; q)n
n≥0

≡ (q; q)∞ (1 − q 5n )(1 + q 5n−2 )(1 + q 5n−3 ) (by (6))
n≥1
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 11 of 16 72

∞
 ∞

= q n(3n+1)/2 q n(5n+1)/2
n=−∞ n=−∞
∞  ∞ 
  
= q n(6n+1) + q (2n+1)(3n+2) q n(10n+1) + q (2n+1)(5n+3) .
n=−∞ n=−∞

∞  n(6n+1) 
Since the exponents in n=−∞ q + q (2n+1)(3n+2) are congruent to

0, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 33, 35, 36, 40, 42, 43, 47
∞  n(10n+1) 
modulo 49 and the exponents in n=−∞ q + q (2n+1)(5n+3) are congruent
to

0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24, 28, 30, 31, 35, 37, 38, 42, 44, 45
∞  n(6n+1) 
modulo 49, it follows that the product n=−∞ q + q (2n+1)(3n+2)
∞  n(10n+1) 
n=−∞ q + q (2n+1)(5n+3) has no exponent congruent to 6, 20, 27, 34, 41,
48 modulo 49. Thus
∞

c8 (49n + r )q 49n+r ≡ 0 (mod 2)
n≥0

where r = 6, 20, 27, 34, 41, 48.

Let c9 (n) be the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) all parts are distinct and greater than 1
or
(b) there exists j ≥ 2 such that 1 appears exactly j 2 times and parts > 1 are at least
j + 1 in size and distinct.
Then, we have:
Theorem 10 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = (5 j + j)/2, j ∈ Z;
2

c9 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2), otherwise.

Proof We have:

∞
 ∞
 2
c9 (n)q n = (−q 2 ; q)∞ + q n (−q n+1 ; q)∞
n=0 n=2
∞
 2
≡ (1 + 2q)(−q 2 ; q)∞ + q n (−q n+1 ; q)∞
n=2
 72 Page 12 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

∞
 2
= (1 + q)(−q 2 ; q)∞ + q(−q 2 ; q)∞ + q n (−q n+1 ; q)∞
n=2
∞

= (−q; q)∞ + q(−q 2 ; q)∞ + q n2 (−q n+1 ; q)∞
n=2
∞
 2
= q n (−q n+1 ; q)∞
n=0
∞
2
≡ q n (q n+1 ; q)∞
n=0
∞ 2
q n (q; q)∞
=
(q; q)n
n=0
∞
 2
qn
= (q; q)∞
(q; q)n
n=0
∞ 
   
≡ 1 + q 5n−2 1 + q 5n−3 1 − q 5n (by (6))
n=1
∞
5n 2 +n
≡ q 2 .
n=−∞

Example 1 Consider n = 11.

The c9 (11)-parititions are:

11, (9, 2), (8, 3), (7, 4), (7, 14 ), (6, 5), (6, 3, 2), (5, 4, 2), (4, 3, 14 )

5(2)2 +2
and so c9 (11) = 9 ≡ 1 (mod 2). Indeed this is true since 11 = 2 (j = 2) in the
theorem.
Let c10 (n) be the number of partitions of n in which either
(a) all parts are distinct
or
(b) there exists j ≥ 1 such that all positive odd integers ≤ j appear twice or thrice
and other odd parts are distinct, all positive even integers ≤ j appear twice, even
parts > 2 j are distinct and no even integer in the interval [ j + 1, 2 j] appears.
Then, we have:
Theorem 11 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = 2 j + j, j ∈ Z;
2

c10 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2) otherwise.
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 13 of 16 72

Proof The generating function for c10 (n) is

∞
 ∞

c10 (n)q = n
q n(n+1) (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞ (−q; q 2 )∞
n=0 n=0
∞

≡ (q; q 2 )∞ q n(n+1) (q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞ (mod 2)
n=0
∞
q n(n+1) (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= (q; q 2 )∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=0
∞
 q n(n+1)
= (q; q)∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=0
∞ 
   
= 1 − q 4n−1 1 − q 4n−3 1 − q 4n (by (5))
n=1
∞
2 +n
≡ q 2n .
n=−∞

Let c̃11 (n) be the number of partitions of n in which there is j ≥ 1 such that 1 appears
exactly j 2 , odd parts > 1 appear
n unrestricted, even parts are > 2 j and distinct. Define
c11 (n) as follows: c11 (n) = i=0 c̃11 (i). Then

∞
 ∞
 2
q n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
c̃11 (n)q =
n
(q 3 ; q 2 )∞
n=0 n=1

and
∞
 ∞
1 
c11 (n)q =n
c̃11 (n)q n
1−q
n=0 n=0
∞
 2
q n (−q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞
=
(q; q 2 )∞
n=1
∞ 2
q n (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
≡ (mod 2)
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (q; q 2 )∞
n=1
∞ 2
q n (q 2 ; q 2 )∞ (q; q 2 )n
=
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (q; q 2 )∞ (q; q 2 )n
n=1
∞
 2
q n (q 2 ; q 2 )∞ (−q; q 2 )n
≡
(q ; q 2 )n (−q; q 2 )∞ (q; q 2 )n
2
n=1
 72 Page 14 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )∞  q n (−q; q 2 )n
2
(−q 2 ; q 2 )∞
≡ −
(−q; q 2 )∞ (q 2 ; q 2 )n (q; q 2 )n (q; q 2 )∞
n=0
∞
 2
(q 2 ; q 2 ) ∞ q n (−q; q 2 )n
≡ + (q; q)3∞
(−q; q 2 )∞ (q; q)2n
n=0
∞ 
    ∞
≡ 1 + q 6n−2 1 + q 6n−4 1 − q 6n + q n(n+1)/2 (by (9))
n=1 n=0
∞ ∞

2 +n
≡ q 3n + q n(n+1)/2 .
n=−∞ n=0
∞
n=0 c3 (n)q
The series on the right-hand side is the same as the series expansion for n

and so Theorem 4 is valid for c11 (n), i.e.

c11 (11n + 5) ≡ 0 (mod 2),

c11 (11n + 7) ≡ 0 (mod 2)

and

c11 (11n + 9) ≡ 0 (mod 2).

Let c12 (n) denote the number of partitions of n in which either

(a) all parts are distinct and greater than or equal to 2
or
(b) the largest repeated part j appears exactly three times if j ≡ 0 (mod 2), and
appears three or four times if j ≡ 1 (mod 2), all positive even integers < j
appear exactly twice, all positive odd integers < j appear two or three times, all
even parts > j are actually at least 2 j + 2 in part size and distinct, odd parts > j
are distinct and no odd part is equal to 2 j + 1.
We have:
Theorem 12 For all n ≥ 0,
⎧
⎪
⎨1 (mod 2), n = 6 j + 4 j, j ∈ Z;
2

c12 (n) ≡
⎪
⎩
0 (mod 2), otherwise.

We have
∞

c12 (n)q n = (−q 2 ; q)∞
n=0
∞

+ q 1+1+2+2+···+(n−1)+(n−1)+n+n+n (−q; q 2 )n (−q 2n+2 ; q)∞
n=1
Modulo 2 congruences for partitions with initial repetitions Page 15 of 16 72

∞

= q n(n+2) (−q; q 2 )n (−q 2n+2 ; q)∞
n=0
∞

≡ q n(n+2) (q; q 2 )n (q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞ (q 2n+3 ; q 2 )∞
n=0
∞
 q n(n+2) (q 2n+2 ; q 2 )∞ (q; q 2 )∞
≡
1 − q 2n+1
n=0
∞
 q n(n+2) (q 2 ; q 2 )∞
= (q; q 2 )∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (1 − q 2n+1 )
n=0
∞
 q n(n+2)
= (q; q)∞
(q 2 ; q 2 )n (1 − q 2n+1 )
n=0
∞
 q n(n+2) (q; q 2 )n
= (q; q)∞
(q; q 2 )n (q 2 ; q 2 )n (1 − q 2n+1 )
n=0
∞
 q n(n+2) (−q; q 2 )n
≡ (q; q)∞
(q; q 2 )n+1 (q 2 ; q 2 )n
n=0
∞
 q n(n+2) (−q; q 2 )n
= (q; q)∞
(q; q)2n+1
n=0
∞ 
   
= 1 − q 12n−2 1 − q 12n−10 1 − q 12n (by (14))
n=1
∞
2 +4n
≡ q 6n .
n=−∞

The following corollary is immediately noticeable.

Corollary 13 For all n ≥ 0, we have,

c12 (2n + 1) ≡ 0 (mod 2).

Author Contributions The authors contributed equally to this work.

Funding Open access funding provided by University of the Witwatersrand. No funding was received for
conducting this study. The authors have no financial interests in any material discussed in this article.

Data availibility The authors can confirm that this manuscript has no associated data

Declarations
Conflict of interest On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of
interest.
 72 Page 16 of 16 D. Nyirenda, B. Mugwangwavari

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