<s>[INST] Hypergeometric 2F1 with negative c I've got this hypergeometric series
$_2F_1 \left[ \begin{array}{ll}
a &-n \\ 
-a-n+1 & 
\end{array} ; 1\right]$
where $a,n>0$ and $a,n\in \mathbb{N}$
The problem is that $-a-n+1$ is negative in this case. So when I try to use Gauss's identity
$_2F_1 \left[ \begin{array}{ll}
a & b \\ 
c & 
\end{array} ; 1\right] = \dfrac{\Gamma(c-a-b)\Gamma(c)}{\Gamma(c-a)\Gamma(c-b)}$
I give negative parameters to the $\Gamma$ function.
What other identity can I use?
I'm trying to find a closed form to this: $\sum _{i=0}^n \binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i}$
Wolfram Mathematica answered this as a closed form: $\frac{2^{-2 a} \Gamma \left(\frac{1}{2} (1-2 a)\right) \binom{a+n-1}{n} \Gamma (-a-n+1)}{\sqrt{\pi } \Gamma (-2 a-n+1)}$
But I would like to have a manual solution with proof.
This is how I got that hypergeometric series:
$\sum _{i=0}^n \binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i}$
$\dfrac{t_{i+1}}{t_{i}} = \frac{\binom{a+i+1-1}{i+1} \binom{a-i+n-2}{-i+n-1}}{\binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i}} = \frac{(a+i) (n-i)}{(i+1) (a-i+n-1)} = \frac{(a+i) (i-n)}{ (i-a-n+1)(i+1)}$
$\sum _{i=0}^n \binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i} = _2F_1 \left[ \begin{array}{ll}
a &-n \\ 
-a-n+1 & 
\end{array} ; 1\right]$
UPDATE
Thanks to David H, I got closer to the solution.
$\sum _{i=0}^n \binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i} = _2F_1 \left[ \begin{array}{ll}
a &-n \\ 
-a-n+1 & 
\end{array} ; 1\right]$
$\lim\limits_{\epsilon \to0} \frac{\Gamma (-2 a-2 \epsilon +1) \Gamma (-a-n-\epsilon +1)}{\Gamma (-a-\epsilon +1) \Gamma (-2 a-n-2 \epsilon +1)} = \frac{4^{-a} \Gamma \left(\frac{1}{2}-a\right) \Gamma (-a-n+1)}{\sqrt{\pi } \Gamma (-2 a-n+1)}$
As you can see this result is close to the expected $\frac{2^{-2 a} \Gamma \left(\frac{1}{2} (1-2 a)\right) \binom{a+n-1}{n} \Gamma (-a-n+1)}{\sqrt{\pi } \Gamma (-2 a-n+1)}$ formula. But the $\binom{a+n-1}{n}$ factor is still missing and I don't really understand why.
 [/INST] Here I post the full solution
The problem: we are looking for the closed form of this sum:
$\sum\limits_{i=0}^n \binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i}$
The first term of the sum for $i=0$ is $\binom{a+n-1}{n}$
The ratio two consecutive terms:
$\dfrac{t_{i+1}}{t_i} = \dfrac{P(i)}{Q(i)} = \dfrac{\binom{a+i}{i+1} \binom{a-i+n-2}{-i+n-1}}{\binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i}} = \dfrac{(a+i) (n-i)}{(i+1) (a-i+n-1)} = \dfrac{(i+a)(i-n)}{(i-a-n+1)(i+1)}$
So our hypergeometric series can be described this way:
$\, _2F_1(a,-n;-a-n+1;1)$
Using this and this identities:
$\begin{align}
{_2F_1}{\left(a,-n;1-a-n;1\right)}
&=\frac{n!}{(a)_{n}}C_{n}^{a}{\left(1\right)}\\
&=\frac{\Gamma{\left(n+1\right)}\,\Gamma{\left(a\right)}}{\Gamma{\left(a+n\right)}}\cdot\frac{\Gamma{\left(2a+n\right)}}{\Gamma{\left(2a\right)}\,\Gamma{\left(n+1\right)}}\\
&=\frac{\Gamma{\left(a\right)}\,\Gamma{\left(2a+n\right)}}{\Gamma{\left(a+n\right)}\,\Gamma{\left(2a\right)}}\\
&=\frac{\binom{2a+n-1}{2a-1}}{\binom{a+n-1}{a-1}}.\\
\end{align}$
The final solution:
$\begin{align}\sum\limits_{i=0}^n \binom{a+i-1}{i} \binom{a-i+n-1}{n-i} &= \binom{a+n-1}{n} \cdot \, _2F_1(a,-n;-a-n+1;1)\\
&= \binom{a+n-1}{n} \cdot  \dfrac{\binom{2a+n-1}{2a-1}}{\binom{a+n-1}{a-1}}\\
&=\binom{2a+n-1}{n}\end{align}$
</s>