Dougall's Hypergeometric Theorem

Theorem
Let $x, y, z, n \in \C$.

Let $n \notin \Z_{\lt 0}$.

Let $\map \Re {x + y + z + n + 1} > 0$.

Then:
 * $\ds \map { {}_5 \operatorname F_4} { { {\dfrac n 2 + 1, n, -x, -y, -z} \atop {\dfrac n 2, x + n + 1, y + n + 1, z + n + 1} } \, \middle \vert \, 1} = \dfrac {\map \Gamma {x + n + 1} \map \Gamma {y + n + 1} \map \Gamma {z + n + 1} \map \Gamma {x + y + z + n + 1} } {\map \Gamma {n + 1} \map \Gamma {x + y + n + 1} \map \Gamma {y + z + n + 1} \map \Gamma {x + z + n + 1} }$

where:
 * ${}_5 \operatorname F_4$ is the generalized hypergeometric function
 * $x^{\overline k}$ denotes the $k$th rising factorial power of $x$
 * $\map \Gamma {n + 1} = n!$ is the Gamma function.

Proof
By definition of the generalized hypergeometric function


 * $\ds \map { {}_5 \operatorname F_4} { { {\dfrac n 2 + 1, n, -x, -y, -z} \atop {\dfrac n 2, x + n + 1, y + n + 1, z + n + 1} } \, \middle \vert \, 1} = \ds \sum_{k \mathop = 0}^\infty \dfrac {\paren {\dfrac n 2 + 1}^{\overline k} n^{\overline k} \paren {-x}^{\overline k} \paren {-y}^{\overline k} \paren {-z}^{\overline k} } {\paren {\dfrac n 2}^{\overline k} \paren {x + n + 1}^{\overline k} \paren {y + n + 1}^{\overline k} \paren {z + n + 1}^{\overline k} } \dfrac {1^k} {k!}$

Also known as
Some sources refer to this theorem as Dougall's Theorem, but that is often used for the Dougall-Ramanujan Identity.

Also see

 * Dixon's Hypergeometric Theorem
 * Gauss's Hypergeometric Theorem
 * Kummer's Hypergeometric Theorem