Hockey-Stick Formulas for Binomial Coefficients

Formula 1 8 ! <5"
8< < 5! <"

or

8 ! 3"
8 < 3< <"

Proof. The collection of size-< subsets of " 8 can be partitioned into 8 < " classes where class 3 is comprised of all subsets whose largest element is 3 where 8 8< 3 < 8 The size of class 3 is 3" . Hence 8 ! 3" ! <5"
<" < 3< <" 5! <"

after re-indexing with 5 3 <. Example.

4 % $ $

7 is the number of size-4 subsets of " # (

3

( $ % & '
$ $

4 is the number of the size-4 subsets whose largest element is 5 5 is the number of the size-4 subsets whose largest element is 6 6 is the number of the size-4 subsets whose largest element is 7
3 3 3

3 is the number of the size-4 subsets whose largest element is 4

that corresponds to The path below illustrates a route in Pascal's grid to node 7 4 the subset " % & (, which is a subset that belongs to the class subsets whose largest element is 7. [Note: line segment 3 downward-right denotes inclusion of 3 in the set

Hockey Stick Formula 2 8 ! 8"3

< < 3! <3

or

8 ! 84<" < 4
< 4!

Proof. The collection of size-< subsets of " 8 can be partitioned into < " classes where class 3 is comprised of all subsets W whose complement W w has largest element 8 3, where 3 since W class 3 contains the 3 elements ranges from ! to < The size of class 3 is 83" <3 8 3 " ..., 8 and must have the remaining < 3 elements chosen from 1, ..., 8 3 ". Hence < 8 ! 8"3 . Also Re-indexing the sum with 4 < 3 we obtain 8 ! 84<" ! 84<" < 4 4
3! ! < 4< 4! < <3

Example.

2 is the number of the size-4 subsets W such that max W w ( % $ 0 3 is the number of the size-4 subsets W such that max W w ( $ % "

$ % & ' ( For 8 ( and < %, we have 2 0 " # $ % %

4 is the number of the size-4 subsets W such that max W w ( # & # 5 is the number of the size-4 subsets W such that max W w ( " ' 3 6 is the number of the size-4 subsets W such that max W w ( ! ( %

that corresponds to The path below illustrates a route in Pascal's grid to node 7 4 the subset $ % ' (, which is a subset that belongs to the class subsets W such that max W w ( # & . [Note: line segment 3 downward-right denotes inclusion of 3 in the set