Binomial Theorem

Theorem

Integral Index

Let $X$ be one of the set of numbers $\N, \Z, \Q, \R, \C$.

Let $x, y \in X$.

Then:

$\displaystyle \forall n \in \Z_{>0}: \left({x + y}\right)^n = \sum_{k \mathop = 0}^n {n \choose k} x^{n-k} y^k$

where $\displaystyle {n \choose k}$ is $n$ choose $k$.

Ring Theory

Let $\left({R, +, \odot}\right)$ be a ringoid such that $\left({R, \odot}\right)$ is a commutative semigroup.

Let $n \in \Z: n \ge 2$. Then:

$\displaystyle \forall x, y \in R: \odot^n \left({x + y}\right) = \odot^n x + \sum_{k=1}^{n-1} \binom n k \left({\odot^{n-k} x}\right) \odot \left({\odot^k y}\right) + \odot^n y$

where $\displaystyle \binom n k = \frac {n!} {k!\ \left({n-k}\right)!}$ (see Binomial Coefficient).

If $\left({R, \odot}\right)$ has an identity element $e$, then:

$\displaystyle \forall x, y \in R: \odot^n \left({x + y}\right) = \sum_{k \mathop = 0}^n \binom n k \left({\odot^{n-k} x}\right) \odot \left({\odot^k y}\right)$

General Binomial Theorem

Let $\alpha \in \R$ be a real number.

Let $x \in \R$ be a real number such that $\left|{x}\right| < 1$.

Then:

$\displaystyle \left({1 + x}\right)^\alpha = \sum_{n \mathop = 0}^\infty \frac {\alpha^{\underline k}} {n!} x^n = \sum_{n \mathop = 0}^\infty \frac {\prod \limits_{k \mathop = 0}^{n-1} \left({\alpha - k}\right)} {n!} x^n$

where $\alpha^{\underline k}$ denotes the falling factorial.

That is:

$\displaystyle \left({1 + x}\right)^\alpha = 1 + \alpha x + \frac {\alpha \left({\alpha - 1}\right)} {2!} x^2 + \frac {\alpha \left({\alpha - 1}\right) \left({\alpha - 2}\right)} {3!} x^3 + \cdots$

Also see

• Pascal's Triangle
• Pascal's Rule