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How to show that for any non-negative integers $n$ and $l$ two sums below are equal:

$$ \sum_{m=0}^{{\rm min}\{n,l\}} \binom{l}{m} \frac{n!}{(n-m)!} x^{l-m} = \sum_{m=0}^{l} \binom{l}{m} (n-l+m+1)_{l-m} x^{m}, $$

where $(a)_s= a(a+1)(a+2)⋯(a+n−1)$ is the Pochhammer symbol.

2 Answers 2

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Let $k_0=\operatorname{min}\{n,l\}$. Then observe that the co-efficient of $x^k \neq 0$ on the LHS if and only if $l-k_0\leq k\leq l$.
So, we first assume $l-k_0\leq k \leq l.$ Now, observing $n-(l-k)\geq 0$, we have, $$\begin{align} \ {\rm coefficient \space of} \space x^k \space {\rm on \space the \space RHS} & = {l \choose k}(n-l+k+1)_{l-k}\\ & =\ {l \choose k}\prod_{i=1}^{l-k}(n-(l-k)+i)\\ &=\ {l \choose k}\left(\frac{(n-(l-k))!\left(\prod_{i=1}^{l-k}(n-(l-k)+i)\right)}{(n-(l-k))!}\right)\\ &=\ {l \choose k}\frac{n!}{(n-(l-k))!}\\ &=\ {l \choose l-k}\frac{n!}{(n-(l-k))!}\\ &=\ {\rm coefficient \space of} \space x^k \space {\rm on \space the \space LHS}. \end{align}$$ Now we assume $k In that case observe $\require{cancel}n-l+k+1

Thus, coefficient of $x^k$ on the RHS $={l \choose k}(n-l+k+1)_{l-k}=0=$ coefficient of $x^k$ on the LHS.

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Equating similar powers of $x$: $$l-m = k$$ also $$ \binom {l}{m} = \binom {l}{(l-m)} = \binom {l}{k}$$ now, $$(a)_n = a(a+1)...(a+n-1) = \frac{(a+n-1)!}{(a-1)!}$$ So, $$(n-l+k+1)_{(l-k)} = (n-m+1)_m = \frac{n!}{(n-m+1-1)!} = \frac{n!}{(n-m)!}$$ Thus, for all powers the 2 terms on LHS and RHS are equal. All that is left now is to ensure that the number of terms is same.

case 1) Let $min(n, l)=l$ then number of terms are obviously same on LHS and RHS.

case 2) if $min(n, l) = n$ then LHS terms are from $x^l$ to $x^{l-n}$. On RHS, $((n-l)+(m+1))_{(l-m)}$ is valid only if $(n-l+m) \ge 0$ or $m \ge (l-n)$. So, the RHS summation runs from $(l-n)$ to $l$ or the terms go from $x^{(l-n)}$ to $x^l$