An Unexpected Congruence Modulo 5 for 4--Colored Generalized Frobenius Partitions

Abstract

In his 1984 AMS Memoir, George Andrews defined the family of $k$--colored generalized Frobenius partition functions. These are denoted by $cφ_k(n)$ where $k\geq 1$ is the number of colors in question. In that Memoir, Andrews proved (among many other things) that, for all $n\geq 0,$ $cφ_2(5n+3) \equiv 0\pmod{5}.$ Soon after, many authors proved congruence properties for various $k$--colored generalized Frobenius partition functions, typically with a small number of colors. In 2011, Baruah and Sarmah proved a number of congruence properties for $cφ_4$, all with moduli which are powers of 4. In this brief note, we add to the collection of congruences for $cφ_4$ by proving this function satisfies an unexpected result modulo 5. The proof is elementary, relying on Baruah and Sarmah's results as well as work of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Theorems & Definitions (4)

• Theorem 1.1
• Theorem 2.1
• Theorem 3.1
• Theorem 3.2