Binomial Theorem

For any set S with n elements, the number of subsets of S with r elements is given by
 
n
n!
=
.
r
(n r)! r!
A useful combinatorial formula is Pascals identity

 
  
n+1
n
n
=
+
,
r
r1
r

1 6 r 6 n.

It can be proved by the following combinatorial argument. Consider a set S with n+1 elements
n

and fix attention on a particular element in the set, call it element a. There are r1
subsets


n
of S with r elements that contain a, and there are r subsets of S with r elements that do not


contain a. Since there are a total of n+1
subsets of S with r elements, Pascals identity holds.
r
Binomial Theorem. For any n N and any x, y R,
n

(x + y) =

n  
X
n

k=0

xk ynk .

Proof. We prove it by induction. For n = 1 we have

 
 
1 0 1
1 1 0
1
(x + y) =
x y +
x y = x + y.
0
1
Assume the formula holds for some fixed arbitrary n N. Then,
(x + y)n+1 = (x + y)(x + y)n
n  
X
n k nk
= (x + y)
x y
k
k=0
n  
n  
X
n k+1 nk X n k n+1k
x y
+
x
y
=
k
k
k=0
k=0
{z
} |
{z
}
|
set =k+1

n+1
X

set =k

n 
X


n
n n+1
n+1
=
x y
+
x y
1

=1
=0

n 
n  
X
X
n
n n+1
=
x yn+1 + xn+1 + yn+1 +
x y
1

=1
=1
  
n 
X
n
n
+
= xn+1 +
x yn+1 + yn+1
1

=1

n 
X
n + 1 n+1
n+1
x y
+ yn+1
=x
+

=1

n+1
X n + 1
x yn+1
=

=0

which completes the proof by induction.

Gilles Cazelais. Typeset with LATEX on April 22, 2006.