How to derive an explicit formula for the sum of the squares of the first
positive integers,

First start with the following sequence:

0  1  0  30
1  301
 1
1  1  1  31
1  311
 1
2  1  2  32
1  321
 1
3  1  3  33
1  331
 1
⋮

 1 
  3

1  3
1
 1


The above equations form a table where each row is the binomial expansion of   1. The first
column is the series
1  2  3  ⋯  
 1
which has the same value as


0  1  2  ⋯  
 1    
   


because adding zero has no effect. Similarly, the sum of the next column is


0  1  2  ⋯ 
  
   


After adding all the columns, the resulting equation is
    
 

     3 3
 1
    

Note that there are
 1 rows, so the last column is simply one added to itself
 1 times.

In the equation above, we seek the expression for



 


so we shall solve the equation for this sum.
    

 
3      3
 1
    

The expression
 

     

 
just has a difference of 
 1 as shown below:

 

        0  1  ⋯ 
  
 1   0  1  ⋯ 
 

 
 0  0   1  1   ⋯  
 
   
 1
  
 1
so the equation becomes
  

3    
 1  3 
  1



  

The sum of the first
natural numbers is given by




 1
 
2


Therefore, the original equation can be simplified to:


3

 1
3  
 
 1   
 1
2


At this point, we have an explicit formula that only needs to be simplified.

Factor the common
 1:


3

3  
 
 1 
 1
  1
2


Expand the squared binomial and simplify:


3

3  
 
 1 

 2
 1   1
2



 
 1 

 
2

Make common denominator to remove the fraction:



 12



3  

2


Factor out the common
:




 12
 1
3  

2


Finally divide both sides by 3 to give the explicit formula for the sum:



 12
 1
 

6