CHECK: Let p be a prime number. Show that $\binom{2p}{p}$ is congruent to $2$ mod $p$.

PROBLEM: Let p be a prime number. Show that the binomial coefficient $\binom{2p}{p}$ is congruent to $2$ mod p.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

$\binom{2p}{p}=\frac{(2p)!}{p!(2p-p)!}=\frac{(2p)!}{p!p!}=\frac{2*4*..*2p}{p!p!}=\frac{2(1*2*..*p)}{p!p!}=\frac{2*p!}{p!p!}=\frac{2}{p!} \equiv 2 \mod p$

I am unsure of my last step. Can someone tell me if I am correct or not?

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$(2p)!=1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \dotsb (2p-1) \cdot 2p$. That is where you have made the first error. The second error is where you made $p!$ disappear in the last step. Note that $p! \equiv 0 \pmod{p}$, hence not invertible modulo $p$. –  Anurag A Jun 1 at 23:50
Careful. $(2p)! = (2p) \cdot (2p - 1) \cdot (2p - 2) ... \cdot 4 \cdot 3 \cdot 2$. –  Kaj Hansen Jun 1 at 23:50
You seem to have confused the factorial with the double factorial. –  Lucian Jun 2 at 6:19
Lucas' theorem gives this result immediately, and is nice to know about anyway. –  Jyrki Lahtonen Jun 2 at 19:16

An alternative proof is to use the good old identity

$$\binom{2p}{p}=\sum_{j=0}^p\binom{p}{j}^2,$$

and to note that $\binom{p}{j}\equiv 0\pmod{p}$ for $0<j<p$ and $\equiv 1\pmod{p}$ for $j=0,p$.

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Note you proved it is $=0\mod p^2$, unless I am missing something. –  Pedro Tamaroff Jun 2 at 0:05
@PedroTamaroff I think it proves that (in addition) $\binom{2p}{p}\equiv 2\pmod{p^2}$, doesn't it? –  mathse Jun 2 at 0:08
Yes, that's what I mean. =) –  Pedro Tamaroff Jun 2 at 0:12

When one does number theory, "fractions" can easily lead to error, it is better to keep things "flat." Let $w=\binom{2p}{p}$. Then $$(2p)!=wp!p!.$$ Note that $(2p)!=(2p)(2p-1)(2p-2)\cdots (p+1)p!$. Substituting, and doing a bit of cancelling, we get $$(2)(p+1)(p+2)\cdots (2p-1)=w(p-1)!.$$ But note that $(p+1)(p+2)\cdots (2p-1)\equiv (p-1)!\pmod{p}$. Since $(p-1)!\not\equiv 0\pmod{p}$, we can cancel, and obtain $w\equiv 2\pmod{p}$.

Remark: The solution by mathse is nicer, and yields immediately the improved congruence $\binom{2p}{p}\equiv 2\pmod{p^2}$. This is also obtainable with the approach above. The result holds for $p=2$. And when $p\gt 2$, the product $(p+1)(p+2)\cdots (2p-1)$ is congruent to $(1)(2)\cdots(p-1)$ modulo $p^2$. For imagine multiplying out $(p+1)(p+2)\cdots (p+p-1)$. We get some terms that involve powers of $p\ge 2$, and the term $p(1+2+\cdots +(p-1))$, and finally the term $(1)(2)\cdots(p-1)$. If $p$ is odd, then $1+2+\cdots +(p-1)$ is divisible by $p$

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First verify that it's true for the only even prime $2$.

$\displaystyle \binom{4}{2} = 6 \equiv 2 \pmod 2$

That leaves you to prove it only for odd prime $p$.

$\displaystyle \binom{2p}{p} = \frac{(2p)!}{p!p!} = \frac{(2p)(2p-1)...(2)(1)}{p!(p)(p-1)...(2)(1)}$

Cancelling terms, we get:

$\displaystyle \frac{(2p)(2p-1)...(p+1)}{p!} = \frac{(2p)(2p-1)...[2p-(p-1)]}{p!} = 2\frac{(2p-1)...[2p-(p-1)]}{(p-1)!}$

Working $\mod p$, the expression becomes:

$\displaystyle 2\frac{(-1)(-2)...[-(p-1)]}{(p-1)!}$

Since $p$ is an odd prime, there are an even number of terms in the numerator, so the expression is:

$\displaystyle 2\frac{(p-1)!}{(p-1)!} = 2$

Hence $\displaystyle \binom{2p}{p} \equiv 2 \pmod{p}$, as required.

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