MA4201: Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science MSc (M&SC), I Sem

Lecture-20
Department of Mathematics, NIT Warangal Scribe: Dr. Y. Sreenivasa Rao

1. Pascal’s Identity and Vandermonde’s Identity

A binomial expression is simply the sum of two terms, such as x + y. The binomial theorem
( )
gives the coefficients of the expansion of powers of binomial expressions. The number nr is
called a binomial coefficient because these numbers occur as coefficients in the expansion of
powers of binomial expressions such as (x + y)n .

Theorem 4 (The Binomial Theorem). Let x and y be variables, and let n be a nonneg-
ative integer. Then
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
n n n n−1 n n−2 2 n n n
n
(x + y) = x + x y+ x y + ··· + xy n−1
+ y
0 1 2 n−1 n
∑n ( )
n n−r r
= x y
r
r=0

Example 17. What is the coefficient of x12 y 13 in the expansion of (x + y)25 ?

Example 19. What is the coefficient of x12 y 13 in the expansion of (2x − 3y)25 ?

Corollaries
1. Let n be a non-negative integer. Then
n ( )
∑ n
= 2n
r
r=0

2. Let n be a positive integer. Then

∑
n ( )
n
r
(−1) =0
r
r=0

That is, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
n n n n n n
+ + + ··· = + + + ···
0 2 4 1 3 5
3. Let n be a non-negative integer. Then

∑
n ( )
r n
2 = 3n
r
r=0
1
 Figure 1: Pascal’s Triangle.

Theorem 6 (Pascal’s Identity). Let n and r be positive integers with n ≥ r. Then

( ) ( ) ( )
n+1 n n
= +
r r−1 r

Two different combinatorial proofs of the Pascal’s identity will be discussed in the class.

(n )
Exercise 1. Prove the Pascal’s identity by algebraic manipulation from the formula for r .

(n )
Remark 1. Pascal’s identity, together with the initial conditions r can be used to recur-
sively define binomial coefficients. This recursive definition is useful in the computation of
binomial coefficients because only addition (and not multiplication ) of integers is needed to use
this recursive definition.
Pascal’s identity is the basis for a geometric arrangement of the binomial coefficients in a
triangle, as shown in Figure 1. This triangle is known as Pascal’s triangle. The nth row in the
( )
triangle consists of the binomial coefficients nr , r = 0, 1, 2, . . ..

2
Theorem 7 (Vandermonde’s Identity). Let m, n, and r be non-negative integers with
r not exceeding either m or n. Then
( ) ∑r ( )( )
m+n m n
=
r r−k k
k=0

Corollary 8. If n is a non-negative integer, then

( ) ∑ n ( )2
2n n
=
n k
k=0

Proof. Use Vandermonde’s identity with m = r = n.

Reference
1. Kenneth H Rosen. Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications with Combinatorics and
Graph Theory, 7th Edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 2017.