Polynomial identities and Fermat quotients

Abstract

We prove some polynomial identities from which we deduce congruences modulo $p^2$ for the Fermat quotient $\frac{2^p-2}{p}$ for any odd prime $p$ (Proposition 1 and Theorem 1). These congruences are simpler than the one obtained by Jothilingam in 1985 which involves listing quadratic residues in some order. On the way, we also observe some more congruences for the Fermat quotient that generalize Eisenstein's classical congruence. Using such polynomial identities, we obtain some sums involving harmonic numbers. We also prove formulae for binomial sums of harmonic numbers of higher order.