Analysis of the Bernstein basis functions: an approach to combinatorial sums involving binomial coefficients and Catalan numbers

We give some alternative forms of the generating functions for the Bernstein basis functions. Using these forms,we derive a collection of functional equations for the generating functions. By applying these equations, we prove some identities for the Bernstein basis functions. Integrating these identities, we derive a variety of identities and formulas, some old and some new, for combinatorial sums involving binomial coefficients, Pascal's rule, Vandermonde's type of convolution, the Bernoulli polynomials, and the Catalan numbers.