TITLE: How to solve equation involving binomial coefficient?
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: I'm reading this paper which says
Let $d=d(n)$ be the positive real number for which
$$
\binom n d p^{\binom d 2} = 1
$$
where $ 0 < p \le 1$, then
$$
d(n) = 2 \log_bn - 2 \log_b (\log_b n) + 2 \log_b\left(\frac 1 2 e\right) + 1 + O(1) \\= 2\log_bn+ O( \log_b \log_b n)
$$
where $b = \frac 1 p$.
As the authors skimmed the proof, I've completely no idea how they reached the conclusion.

REPLY [3 votes]: Setting $b=1/p$, the equation can be written as
$$\frac{n!}{d!(n-d)!}=b^{d(d-1)/2}$$
or
$$\log_b\left[\frac{n!}{d!(n-d)!}\right]=\frac{d(d-1)}{2}$$
Applying the Stirling approximation, the LHS becomes
$$\log_b \left(\sqrt{\frac{n}{2\pi d(n-d)}} \frac{ n^n}{d^d(n-d)^{n-d}}\right)\\
=\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)\log_b n-  \left(d+\frac{1}{2}\right)\log_b d-\left(n-d+\frac{1}{2}\right)\log_b(n-d)+O(1) $$
We can consider the expansion for $n=\infty$ of the term $\log_b(n-d)$, which is
$$\log_b n-\frac{d}{n\log b}+O(n^{-2})$$
Substituting we get
$${ d}\,{\log_b n} +\frac{d}{\log b} -\frac{d^2}{n \log b}  
 -\left(d+\frac{1}{2}\right)\log_b d +O(1) $$
Since this quantity has to be equal to $d(d-1)/2$, grouping the terms according to $d$  we have
$$d^2\left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{n\log b }\right)-d\left(\log_b n+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{\log b}  \right) +\left(d+\frac{1}{2}\right)\log_b d =O(1)$$
From this equation,  we get that, as $n \rightarrow \infty$, the main term of the asymptotic expansion of $d$ is $ 2\log_b n$.

To determine the successive term of the expansion, we can set $d=2\log_b n +f(n)$. Taking the last equation, dividing by $d$, and making the substitution we get
$$\bigg[2\log_b n+f(n)\bigg]\left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{n\log b  }\right)- \left(\log_b n+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{\log b }  \right) +\left(1+\frac{1}{2[2\log_b n +f(n)]}\right) \\
\log_b \bigg[2\log_b n+f(n)\bigg] =O(1)$$
Taking into account that the order of $f(n)$ is lower than $\log n$, incorporating some terms into the $O(1)$ error, the last equation becomes
$$\frac{1}{2}\left[2\log_b n+{f(n)}\right]- \log_b n +
\log_b [2\log_b n+f(n)] =O(1)$$
from which
$$f(n)=-2\log_b (\log_b n) +O(1)$$

To further go into the expansion, we can set
$$d=2\log_b n -2\log_b (\log_b n ) +g(n)$$
Proceding as above by making the substitution,
taking into account that the order of $g(n)$ is $O(1)$, and incorporating some terms into a residual $O(1)$ term, we get
$$\frac{1}{2}\left[2\log_b n  -2\log_b (\log_b n)+{g(n)}\right]\\- \log_b n - \frac{1}{2} -\frac{1}{\log b}+\log_b 2\\+
\log_b [\log_b n+2\log_b(\log_b n) +f(n)] =O(1)$$
from which
$$g(n)=1+ \frac{2}{\log b}-2 \left(\log_b 2 \right) +O(1)\\
= 1+ 2\log_b e +2 \left(\log_b \frac{1}{2}\right) +O(1) \\
=1+ 2\log_b \left(\frac{1}{2}e \right) +O(1)$$