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The Binomial Theorem: Harvey Mudd College Math Tutorial

The document summarizes the binomial theorem, which provides a formula for expanding positive integer powers of the expression (x + y). Specifically: (1) The binomial theorem states that for any positive integer n, (x + y)n can be expanded as the sum of terms with coefficients given by binomial coefficients, where each term is a product of x to a power and y to a power whose sum is n. (2) The theorem can be extended to real powers by representing the expression (1 + x)α as an infinite series involving powers of x and binomial coefficients, which provides a way to approximate the expression when x is small. (3) Key concepts are explained, including the binomial

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5 views

The Binomial Theorem: Harvey Mudd College Math Tutorial

The document summarizes the binomial theorem, which provides a formula for expanding positive integer powers of the expression (x + y). Specifically: (1) The binomial theorem states that for any positive integer n, (x + y)n can be expanded as the sum of terms with coefficients given by binomial coefficients, where each term is a product of x to a power and y to a power whose sum is n. (2) The theorem can be extended to real powers by representing the expression (1 + x)α as an infinite series involving powers of x and binomial coefficients, which provides a way to approximate the expression when x is small. (3) Key concepts are explained, including the binomial

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Artist Recording
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Harvey Mudd College Math Tutorial:

The Binomial Theorem


We know that (x + y)0 = 1 (x + y)1 = x + y (x + y)2 = x2 + 2xy + y 2 and we can easily expand (x + y)3 = x3 + 3x2 y + 3xy 2 + y 3 . For higher powers, the expansion gets very tedious by hand! Fortunately, the Binomial Theorem gives us the expansion for any positive integer power of (x + y):

Binomial Theorem For any positive integer n,


n

(x + y)n =
k=0

n k

xnk y k

where n k Proof by Induction =

(n)(n 1)(n 2) . . . (n (k 1)) n! = . k! k!(n k)! Connection to Pascals Triangle

Combinatorial Induction

Example By the Binomial Theorem,


3

(x + y)3 =
k=0

3 k

x3k y k 3 1 x2 y + 3 2 xy 2 + 3 3 y3

3 0

x3 +

= x3 + 3x2 y + 3xy 2 + y 3 as expected.

Extensions of the Binomial Theorem A useful special case of the Binomial Theorem is
n

(1 + x)n =
k=0

n k

xk

for any positive integer n, which is just the Taylor series for (1 + x)n . This formula can be extended to all real powers : (1 + x) = for any real number , where k = ()( 1)( 2) . . . ( (k 1)) ! = . k! k!( k)!
k=0

xk

Notice that the formula now gives an innite series. (When = n is a positive integer, all but the rst (n + 1) terms are 0 since after this n n (= 0) appears in each numerator.) This expansion is very useful for approximating (1 + x) for |x| (1 + x) = 1 + x + 1:

( 1) 2 ( 1)( 2) 3 x + x + .... 2! 3!

But for |x| 1, higher powers of x get small very quickly, so (1 + x) can be approximated to any accuracy we need by truncating the series after a nite number of terms.

Example For |x| 1, 5 (1 + x)5/2 1 + x, 2 100 (1 2x) 1 200x, 2 3 (1 + x ) 1 3x2 .

This type of reasoning is useful in investigating what happens when a physical system is perturbed slightly, introducing a new very small term x.

Key Concepts
Binomial Theorem

For any positive integer n,


n

(x + y)n =
k=0

n k

xnk y k

where n k =

n (n 1) (n 2) . . . (n k + 1) n! = k! k!(n k)!

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