Sum of Sequence of Cubes/Proof by Nicomachus

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Theorem

$\displaystyle \sum_{i=1}^n i^3 = \left({\sum_{i=1}^n i}\right)^2 = \frac{n^2 \left({n + 1}\right)^2} 4$


Proof

By Nicomachus's Theorem, we have:

$\forall n \in \N^*: n^3 = \left({n^2 - n + 1}\right) + \left({n^2 - n + 3}\right) + \ldots + \left({n^2 + n - 1}\right)$


Also by Nicomachus's Theorem, we have that the first term for $\left({n + 1}\right)^3$ is $2$ greater than the last term for $n^3$.


So if we add them all up together, we get:

\(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \sum_{i=1}^n i^3\) \(=\) \(\displaystyle \sum_{\stackrel {1 \le i \le n^2 + n - 1} {i \text { odd} } } i\) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \)          ... the sum of all the odd numbers up to $n^2 + n - 1$          
\(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(=\) \(\displaystyle \sum_{1=1}^{\frac {n^2 + n} 2} 2 i - 1\) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \)          ... that is, the first $\dfrac {n^2 + n} 2$ odd numbers          
\(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(=\) \(\displaystyle \left({\frac {n^2 + n} 2}\right)^2\) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \) \(\displaystyle \)          by the Odd Number Theorem          


Hence the result.

$\blacksquare$


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