I have derived a lemma for solving olympiad problems about whether some sequence Sn (n from a contiguous set of integers WLOG containing 0) can be represented by a polynomial P(n) with integer coefficients. I would like to know if it is already well known. It is as follows:
We define Din (where i is a nonnegative integer), the ith level difference of the sequence Sn, as follows:
D0n = Sn
Din = Di-1n+1-Di-1n
If n is from a finite set of size m, we can only define up to the m-1th level difference.
Then, there exists a polynomial P(n) with integer coefficients such that P(n) = Sn if and only if all the elements of the sequence Di are divisible by i!. If n is from an infinite set, we also require that there exists some j such that for all k > j, Dk consists only of zeroes.
To prove this, note that all polynomials with integer coefficients P(n) can be written in the form Σ Ci*nPi (where Ci are integer coefficients) using the division algorithm, with the converse being clearly true.
Then, as nPi=0 for n from 0 to i-1 and nPi=i! for n = i, for Sn=nPi, Dj0=0 for j from 0 to i-1 and Di0=i!. By induction on the degree of polynomial, Dj0=0 for j > i.
Using the property that the differences of the sum of sequences are equal to the sum of the differences of sequences, we obtain that for Sn = P(n) = Σ Ci*nPi, Di0=Ci*i!, which is divisible by i!. Thus, we have proven the "only if" part of the statement. To prove the "if" part of the statement, we construct Σ Ci*nPi for a sequence Sn by obtaining Ci from dividing Di0 by i!. Since a sequence is completely defined by a column of differences, Sn = Σ Ci*nPi, and we obtain a polynomial with integer coefficients by expanding it.
Is this a well known lemma, and where can I find similar useful lemmas?