The Binomial Theorem

Digital Lesson
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
2
Binomial Expansions
The binomial theorem provides a useful method for raising any
binomial to a nonnegative integral power.
Consider the patterns formed by expanding (x + y)
n
.
(x + y)
0
= 1
(x + y)
1
= x + y
(x + y)
2
= x
2
+ 2xy + y
2

(x + y)
3
= x
3
+ 3x
2
y + 3xy
2
+ y
3

(x + y)
4
= x
4
+ 4x
3
y + 6x
2
y
2
+ 4xy
3
+ y
4

(x + y)
5
= x
5
+ 5x
4
y + 10x
3
y
2
+ 10x
2
y
3
+ 5xy
4
+ y
5

Notice that each expansion has n + 1 terms.
1 term
2 terms
3 terms
4 terms
5 terms
6 terms
Example: (x + y)
10
will have 10 + 1, or 11 terms.
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
3
Patterns of Exponents in
Binomial Expansions
Consider the patterns formed by expanding (x + y)
n
.
(x + y)
0
= 1
(x + y)
1
= x + y
(x + y)
2
= x
2
+ 2xy + y
2

(x + y)
3
= x
3
+ 3x
2
y + 3xy
2
+ y
3

(x + y)
4
= x
4
+ 4x
3
y + 6x
2
y
2
+ 4xy
3
+ y
4

(x + y)
5
= x
5
+ 5x
4
y + 10x
3
y
2
+ 10x
2
y
3
+ 5xy
4
+ y
5

1. The exponents on x decrease from n to 0.
The exponents on y increase from 0 to n.
2. Each term is of degree n.
Example: The 5
th
term of (x + y)
10
is a term with x
6
y
4
.
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
4
Binomial Coefficients
The coefficients of the binomial expansion are called binomial
coefficients. The coefficients have symmetry.
The coefficient of x
nr
y
r
in the expansion of (x + y)
n
is written
or
n
C
r
.
n
r
| |
|
\ .
(x + y)
5
= x
5
+ 5x
4
y + 10x
3
y
2
+ 10x
2
y
3
+ 5xy
4
+ y
5

The first and last coefficients are 1.
The coefficients of the second and second to last terms
are equal to n.
1 1
Example: What are the last 2 terms of (x + y)
10
? Since n = 10,
the last two terms are 10xy
9
+ 1y
10
.
So, the last two terms of (x + y)
10
can be expressed
as
10
C
9
xy
9
+
10
C
10
y
10
or as xy
9
+ y
10
.
|
|
.
|

\
|
9
10
|
|
.
|

\
|
10
10
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
5
Pascals
Triangle
The triangular arrangement of numbers below is called Pascals
Triangle.
Each number in the interior of the triangle is the sum of the two
numbers immediately above it.
The numbers in the n
th
row of Pascals Triangle are the binomial
coefficients for (x + y)
n
.
1 1 1
st
row
1 2 1 2
nd
row
1 3 3 1 3
rd
row
1 4 6 4 1 4
th
row
1 5 10 10 5 1 5
th
row
0
th
row 1
6 + 4 = 10
1 + 2 = 3
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
6
Example: Use the fifth row of Pascals Triangle to generate the
sixth row and find the binomial coefficients , ,
6
C
4
and
6
C
2
.
6
1
| |
|
\ .
6
5
| |
|
\ .
5
th
row 1 5 10 10 5 1
6
th
row
6
0
| |
|
\ .
6
1
| |
|
\ .
6
2
| |
|
\ .
6
3
| |
|
\ .
6
4
| |
|
\ .
6
5
| |
|
\ .
6
6
| |
|
\ .
6
C
0

6
C
1

6
C
2

6
C
3

6
C
4

6
C
5

6
C
6

= 6 = and
6
C
4
= 15 =
6
C
2
.
6
1
| |
|
\ .
6
5
| |
|
\ .
There is symmetry between binomial coefficients.
n
C
r
=
n
C
nr

Example: Pascals Triangle
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
7
Example: Use Pascals Triangle to expand (2a + b)
4
.
(2a + b)
4
= 1(2a)
4
+ 4(2a)
3
b + 6(2a)
2
b
2
+ 4(2a)b
3
+ 1b
4

= 1(16a
4
) + 4(8a
3
)b + 6(4a
2
b
2
) + 4(2a)b
3
+ b
4

= 16a
4
+ 32a
3
b + 24a
2
b
2
+ 8ab
3
+ b
4

Example: Pascals Triangle
1 1 1
st
row
1 2 1 2
nd
row
1 3 3 1 3
rd
row
1 4 6 4 1 4
th
row
0
th
row 1
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
8
The symbol n! (n factorial) denotes the product of the first n
positive integers. 0! is defined to be 1.
n! = n(n 1)(n 2) . 3

1
1! = 1
4! = 4

1 = 24
6! = 6

1 = 720
Formula for Binomial Coefficients For all nonnegative
integers n and r,
!
( )! !
n r
n
C
n r r
=

Example:
Formula for the Binomial Coefficients
) 1 2 3 ( ) 1 2 3 4 (
) 1 2 3 ( ) 4 5 6 7 (



=
! 3 ! 4
7
! 3 ! 4
! 7
! 3 )! 3 7 (
! 7

3 7
= =

= C
35
1 2 3 4
4 5 6 7


= =
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
9
Example: Use the formula to calculate the binomial coefficients

10
C
5
,
15
C
0
, and .
50
48
| |
|
\ .
12
1
| |
|
\ .
Example: Binomial coefficients
! 5 )! 5 10 (
! 10

5 10

= C
! 0 )! 0 10 (
! 10

0 10

= C
! 48 )! 48 50 (
! 50
48
50

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
! 1 )! 1 12 (
! 12
1
12

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
! 5 ! 5
! 10

=
! 5 ! 5
! 5 ) 6 7 8 9 10 (

= 252
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10


= =
! 0 ! 10
! 10

= 1
1
1
! 0
! 1
= = =
! 48 ! 2
! 48 ) 49 50 (
! 48 ! 2
! 50

= = 1225
1 2
49 50

= =
! 1 ! 11
! 11 12
! 1 ! 1
! 12

= = 12
1
12
= =
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
10
Binomial Theorem
1 1
( )
n n n n r r n n
n r
x y x nx y C x y nxy y

+ = + + + + + +
!
with
( )! !
n r
n
C
n r r
=

Example: Use the Binomial Theorem to expand (x

4
+ 2)
3
.
Definition: Binomial Theorem
0 3
C
1 3
C
2 3
C
3 3
C
= +
3 4
) 2 (x +
3 4
) (x + ) 2 ( ) (
2 4
x +
2 4
) 2 )( (x
3
) 2 (
1
+
3 4
) (x =
3
+ ) 2 ( ) (
2 4
x
3
+
2 4
) 2 )( (x
1
3
) 2 (
8 12 6
4 8 12
+ + + = x x x
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
11
Although the Binomial Theorem is stated for a binomial which
is a sum of terms, it can also be used to expand a difference of
terms.
Simply rewrite
(x + y)
n
as (x + ( y))
n

and apply the theorem to this sum.
Example: Use the Binomial Theorem to expand (3x 4)
4
.
Definition: Binomial Theorem
4
) 4 3 ( x
4
)) 4 ( 3 ( + = x
4 3 2 2 3 4
) 4 ( 1 ) 4 )( 3 ( 4 ) 4 ( ) 3 ( 6 ) 4 ( ) 3 ( 4 ) 3 ( 1 + + + + = x x x x
256 ) 64 )( 3 ( 4 ) 16 )( 9 ( 6 ) 4 )( 27 ( 4 81
2 3 4
+ + + + = x x x x
256 768 864 432 81
2 3 4
+ + = x x x x
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
12
Example: Use the Binomial Theorem to write the first three
terms in the expansion of (2a + b)
12
.
Example:Using the Binomial Theorem
... ) 2 (
2
12
) 2 (
1
12
) 2 (
0
12
) 2 (
2 10 11 12 12
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
= + b a b a a b a
... ) 2 (
! 2 )! 2 12 (
! 12
) 2 (
! 1 )! 1 12 (
! 12
) 2 (
! 0 )! 0 12 (
! 12
2 10 10 11 11 12 12

+

= b a b a a
... ) 2 )( 11 12 ( ) 2 ( 12 ) 2 (
2 10 10 11 11 12 12

+ + + = b a b a a
... 135168 24576 4096
2 10 11 12
+ + + = b a b a a
Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
13
Example: Find the eighth term in the expansion of (x + y)
13
.
Think of the first term of the expansion as x
13
y
0
.

The power of
y is 1 less than the number of the term in the expansion.
The eighth term is
13
C
7
x
6

y
7
.
Therefore, the eighth term of (x + y)
13
is 1716

x
6

y
7
.
Example: Find the nth term
! 7 ! 6
! 7 ) 8 9 10 11 12 13 (
! 7 ! 6
! 13

7 13
= = C
1716
1 2 3 4 5 6
8 9 10 11 12 13


= =