Digital Lesson

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Ms. Nong
 x  a
n
 Binomials

 x  a
n

x represent a number or letter

a represent a number or letter
n represents a power

For example: (1 + x)2 = or (x + 2)3 =

Questions… Find Multiply
Expand the binomial What is..?
Fill in the missing numbers for this triangle on your paper
 The Sums of the Rows
The sum of the numbers in any row is equal to 2 to the n th power or 2n, when n is the number of the row. For example:
 

20 = 1
21 = 1+1 = 2
22 = 1+2+1 = 4
23 = 1+3+3+1 = 8
24 = 1+4+6+4+1 = 16
The sum of the numbers in any row is equal to
2 to the nth power or ____
___ 2n when n is
the number of the row
___________________.
 A binomial is a polynomial with two terms such as x + a. Often
we need to raise a binomial to a power. In this section we'll
explore a way to do just that without lengthy multiplication.
 
0
x  a 1 Can you see a
 x  a  x  a pattern?
1

Can you make a

 x  a   x  2ax  a
2 2 2
guess what the next
one would be?
 x  a   x  3ax  3a x  a
3 3 2 2 3

 
4
x  a  x 4
 4 ax 3
 6 a 2 2
x  4 a 3
x  a 4

 x  a 
5
x 5
 __ ax 4
 __ a 2 3
x  __ a 3 2
x  __ a 4
x  a 5

We can easily see the pattern on the x's and the a's. But what about the
coefficients? Make a guess and then as we go we'll see how you did.
 Let's list all of the coefficients on the x's and the a's and look for a pattern.

1
 x  a
5
 1x  5ax  10a x  10a x  5a 4 x  1a 5
5 4 2 3 3 2

1+ 1
 x  a  1
0
1 +2 + 1
 x  a   1x  1a
1

1 + 3 + 3+ 1
 x  a   1x  2ax  1a
2 2 2

+ + + +
13 4 6 4 1
 x  a   1x  3ax  3a x  1a
3 3 2 2

1 5 10 10 5 1
 
4 Can you guess
x  a  1x 4
 4 ax 3
 6 a 2 2
x  4 a 3
x  1a 4
the next row?
 This is good for lower
powers but could get 1
very large. We will
introduce some
notation to help us and
generalize the
1 1
coefficients with a
formula based on what
was observed here.
1 2 1

1 3 3 1

1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
This is called Pascal's Triangle and would give us the
coefficients for a binomial expansion of any power if we
extended it far enough.
 Patterns observed
Consider the patterns formed by expanding (x + y)n.
•Powers on x and y add up to power on binomial
•x's increase in power as y's decrease in power from term to term.
(x + y)0 = 1 1. The exponents on x decrease
(x + y)1 = x + y from n to 0 and the exponents
on y increase from 0 to n.
(x + y)2 = x2 + 2xy + y2 2. Each term is of degree n.
(x + y)3 = x3 + 3x2y + 3xy2 + y3 Example: The 4th term of (x
+ y) 5
is a term with x y .”
2 3
(x + y) = x + 4x y + 6x y + 4xy + y
4 4 3 2 2 3 4

(x + y)5 = x5 + 5x4y + 10x3y2 + 10x2y3 + 5xy4 + y5

•Symmetry of coefficients (i.e. 2nd term and 2nd to last term have
same coefficients, 3rd & 3rd to last etc.) so once you've reached the
middle, you can copy by symmetry rather than compute coefficients.

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 9

 The coefficients of the binomial expansion are called binomial
coefficients. The coefficients have symmetry.
(x + y)5 = 1x5 + 5x4y + 10x3y2 + 10x2y3 + 5xy4 + 1y5

The first and last coefficients are 1.

The coefficients of the second and second to last terms
are equal to n.
Example 1: What are the last 2 terms of (x + y)10 ?
Since n = 10, the last two terms are 10xy9 + 1y10.

Example 2: What are the last 2 terms of (x + 2)10 ?

Since n = 10, the last two terms are 10x(2)9 + 1y10.
Use a calculator to calculate (2)9 = 510 then multiply it by 10
Your final answer should be 5100x + 1y10.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 10
 Example 3: Use Pascal’s Triangle to expand (2a + b)4.

1 0th row
1 1 1st row
1 2 1 2nd row
1 3 3 1 3rd row
1 4 6 4 1 4th row

(2a + b)4 = 1(2a)4 + 4(2a)3b + 6(2a)2b2 + 4(2a)b3 + 1b4

= 1(16a4) + 4(8a3)b + 6(4a2b2) + 4(2a)b3 + b4
= 16a4 + 32a3b + 24a2b2 + 8ab3 + b4

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 11

Extra: different form of questions you might see on test…

1. What is the second term in the

binomial expansion of this expression?

(x + 3)4

2. Find and simplify the fourth term in the expansion of

(3x2 + y3)4 .

3. (3x - 2y)4 =
[Hint: this is the same as (3x + -2y)4 so use a calculator to find the answer and write the whole
expansion for fourth power out for the answer.]