Solution:
Given k and x, let A be the set of all sets of the form
{m1+k1,m2+k2,…,mk+kk}
where the mi are integers, 1≤mi≤x. Clearly, A consists of xk sets, each of which has k distinct elements. Now we count the elements of A in another way.
Arrange the elements of a member of A in increasing order:
n1+kp1<n2+kp2<⋯<nk+kpk
For each permutation p=(p1,…,pk) of the numbers (1,…,k), let Ap⊆A be the subset consisting of sets whose sorted presentation (1) displays the given sequence p of numerators. We claim that the size of Ap is a binomial coefficient (x+rpk), where rp depends on p (hence on k) but not on x.
For n1,…,nk(1≤ni≤x) to define an element of Ap, it is necessary and sufficient that the inequalities (1) hold. So we must have
1≤n1≤n2≤⋯≤nk≤x
Moreover, the strict inequality ni<ni+1 is required whenever pi>pi+1. To condense all these conditions, it is convenient to define nonnegative integers e1,e2,…,ek by
e1ei+1=0={ei+1ei if pi<pi+1 if pi>pi+1
Then the conditions may be written as
1≤n1+e1<n2+e2<⋯<nk+ek≤x+ek.
We observe that {(n1+e1,…,nk+ek)} may be any k-element subset of {1,2,…,x+ek}, written in increasing order. So, writing rp=ek,
∣Ap∣=(x+rpk)
Observe that 0≤rp≤k−1. Letting ai be the number of p for which rp=i, we obtain
xk=∣A∣=p∑∣Ap∣=i=0∑k−1ai(x+ik)
Here the ai are clearly nonnegative integers. To prove that they are positive, it suffices to exhibit, for each i, a p with rp=i; the permutation (n,n−1,…,i+1,1,2,…,i) is readily seen to work.