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Thursday, March 9, 2017

Binomial coefficients

When studying binomial coefficients and how they form Pascal's Triangle, we learn that they are the coefficients of (x+y)n, i.e.
(x+y)n=nk=0(nk)xkynk
Replacing y with y we get:
(xy)n=nk=01k(nk)xnkyk

For example, the coefficients of (x+y)4=x4+4x3y+6x2y2+4xy3+y4 are 1,4,6,4,1 which form the 5th row of Pascal's triangle.

What happens if the coefficients of the polynomial are repeated binomial coefficients such as 1,1,4,4,6,6,4,4,1,1? What is 2n+1k=0(nk/2)xkynk?

It is easy to show that this is equal to y(x2+y2)n+x(x2+y2)n=(x+y)(x2+y2)n.

What about repeating coefficients with sign changes such as 1,1,-4,-4,6,6,-4,-4,1,1?
The same argument shows that 

2n+1k=01k/2(nk/2)xnkyk

is equal to y(x2y2)n+x(x2y2)n=(x+y)(x2y2)n which can be further simplified as (x+y)n+1(xy)n.

If we now change the sign of every other coefficient as well, i.e. 1,-1,-4,4,6,-6,-4,4,1, -1,
we get 

2n+1k=01k/2+nk(nk/2)xnkyk

This can be shown to be equal to x(x2y2)ny(x2y2)n=(xy)(x2y2)n which is equal to (xy)n+1(x+y)n.

We can repeat the coefficients more than 2 times as well and show that

 m(n+1)1k=0(nk/m)xkynk

is equal to t=m1t=0xtym1t(xm+ym)n.


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