Binomial expansion
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Binomial expansion uses an expression to make a series. It uses a bracket expression like (x + y)n.
[change] Using Pascal's triangle
If n is an integer (
), we use Pascal's triangle.
To expand (x + y)2:
- find row 2 of Pascal's triangle (1, 2, 1)
- expand x and y so the x power goes down by 1 each time from n to 0 and the y power goes up by 1 each time from 0 up to n
- times the numbers from Pascal's triangle with the right terms.
So (x + y)2 = 1x2y0 + 2x1y1 + 1x0y2
For example:
So as a rule:
where ai is the number at row a and position i in Pascal's triangle.








