Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics

MAM1020F 2014

The binomial theorem and mathematical induction

1 Pascal’s triangle
One of the important algebraic skills you learnt at school is how to expand a product of
the form (a + b)(c + d):

(a + b)(c + d) = a(c + d) + b(c + d) = ac + ad + bc + bd. (1)

What you are using in the process is one of the basic rules of algebra, the distributive
rule:
x(y + z) = xy + xz and (x + y)z = xz + yz. (2)
What we have done for a product with two factors in (1) we can also do for products
of more factors. In this section we are going to look at a rather special case: products
of many factors, all of which are the same. More specifically, we’ll try to find a way of
expanding a product of the form
(x + y)n
where x and y are real numbers and n a positive integer.
Let’s list this first few expansions of this kind. For reasons that will become clear a
little later we include the rather uninteresting case n = 0 as well.

n=0: (x + y)0 = 1
n=1: (x + y)1 = x + y
n=2: (x + y)2 = (x + y)(x + y)
= xx + xy + yx + yy
= x2 + 2xy + y 2
n=3: (x + y)3 = (x + y)(x + y)(x + y)
= xxx + xxy + xyx + xyy + yxx + yxy + yyx + yyy
= x3 + x2 y + x2 y + xy 2 + x2 y + xy 2 + xy 2 + y 3
= x3 + 3x2 y + 3y 2 x + y 3
n=4: (x + y)4 = (x + y)(x + y)(x + y)(x + y)
= xxxx + xxxy + xxyx + xxyy + xyxx + xyxy + xyyx + xyyy
+yxxx + yxxy + yxyx + yxyy + yyxx + yyxy + yyyx + yyyy
= x4 + x3 y + x3 y + x2 y 2 + x3 y + x2 y 2 + x2 y 2 + xy 3
+x3 y + x2 y 2 + x2 y 2 + xy 3 + x2 y 2 + xy 3 + xy 3 + y 4
= x4 + 4x3 y + 6x2 y 2 + 4y 3x + y 4

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 It is already abundantly clear that doing this kind of expansion is a tedious business.
The challenge is to see whether we can find any pattern in these expansions, so that we
can formulate a rule that will enable us to write down the simplified form of the expansion
without first having to systematically list all the possible products of x’s and y’s that can
occur (as we have done above).
Let’s first list some fairly obvious points:

• There are 2n terms in the expansion of (x + y)n before we collect similar terms.

• Each term is a product of n factors, and each factor is either an x or a y.

• When simplified, each term is of the form xk y m, where k and m are integers between
0 and n and k + m = n. Another way of saying this is that each term is of the form
xk y n−k , where k is an integer between 0 and n.

• Once we have collected like terms together, the expansion of (x + y)n has n + 1
different terms.

• The expansion of (x + y)n must therefore be of the form:

an xn + an−1 xn−1 y + an−2 xn−2 y 2 + an−3 xn−3 y 3 + · · · + a2 x2 y n−2 + a1 xxn−1 + a0 y n ,

where an , an−1 , . . . , a1 , a0 are coefficients. We do in fact expect these coefficients to

depend on n, so it would be better to write them as

an (n), an−1 (n), . . . , a2 (n), a1 (n), a0 (n).

To summarize:

(x+y)n = an (n)xn +an−1 (n)xn−1 y+an−2(n)xn−2 y 2 +· · ·+a2 (n)x2 y n−2 +a1 (n)xy n−1 +a0 (n)y n .

The challenge now becomes to find a formula for the coefficients ak (n), for all integers
k between 0 and n.
Let’s list only the coefficients appearing in the list of expansions on the previous page:

n=0 : 1
n=1 : 1 1
n=2 : 1 2 1
n=3 : 1 3 3 1
n=4 : 1 4 6 4 1

We make some observations about the triangle of coefficients above:

• The numbers in the n-th row of the triangle are the coefficients an (n), an−1 (n), . . . .a0 (n).
(When n = 0, there is only one, a0 (0), when n = 1, there are two, namely a1 (1) and
a1 (0), and so on.)

• The first and last number in each row is a 1, so an (n) = 1 and a0 (n) = 1.

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 • In each row of the triangle after the first two, each number that is not a 1 is the sum
of the two adjacent numbers directly above it in the previous row. So for example
in the third row 2 = 1 + 1, and in the fifth row 4 = 1 + 3 and 6 = 3 + 3. In terms
of the coefficients ak (n) this becomes

ak (n + 1) = ak (n) + ak−1 (n)

for k an integer and 0 < k < n + 1.

The triangle of numbers appearing above is known as Pascal’s triangle, after the French
mathematician and philospher Blaise Pascal (1623– 1662). The pattern was in fact known
in India, Persia (Iran) and China long before Pascal. There are documents containing
it dating back to the 10th century, some referring back to much earlier documents, but
a book by Pascal (Traité du triangle arithmétique (Treatise on an arithmetical triangle),
published after his death) was the first publication in Europe to make extensive use of it.
If we assume for the moment that this pattern continues beyond n = 4, we can write
down the next few rows:

n=0 : 1
n=1 : 1 1
n=2 : 1 2 1
n=3 : 1 3 3 1
n=4 : 1 4 6 4 1
n=5 : 1 5 10 10 5 1
n=6 : 1 6 15 20 15 6 1
n=7 : 1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1

Using the last line of the triangle above we can write down the expansion of (x + y)7:

(x + y)7 = x7 + 7x6 y + 21x5 y 2 + 35x4 y 3 + 35x3 y 4 + 21x2 y 5 + 7xy 6 + y 7 .

There are two problems with what we have done so far:

• We have only “experimental evidence” (the cases n = 0 to n = 4) for the pattern

in Pascal’s triangle. We have no proof that it continues in this way for all n.
• If we only wanted to find the coefficient of say x17 y 13 in the expansion of (x + y)30
it would be very time-consuming to write down 31 rows of Pascal’s triangle to find
this one coefficient. What we need, ideally, is a formula for the coefficient ak (n) in
terms of n and k.

The first problem will be resolved if we can show that for all integers n and k such that
n > 1 and 0 < k < n + 1 we have ak (n + 1) = ak (n) + ak−1 (n).
Let’s suppose that

(x + y)n = an (n)xn + an−1 (n)xn−1 y + · · · + a2 (n)x2 y n−2 + a1 (n)xy n−1 + a0 (n)y n (3)

(x+y)n+1 = an+1 (n+1)xn+1 +an (n+1)xn y+· · ·+a2 (n+1)x2 y n−1+a1 (n+1)xy n +a0 (n+1)y n+1 (4)

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and that an (n) = a0 (n) = 1.
Then using (3), multiplying out (x + y)(x + y)n and collecting like terms we get

(x + y)n+1 = (x + y)(x + y)n

= (x + y)(an (n)xn + an−1 (n)xn−1 y + · · · + a2 (n)x2 y n−2 + a1 (n)xy n−1 + a0 (n)y n )
= x an (n)xn + an−1 (n)xn−1 y + · · · + a2 (n)x2 y n−2 + a1 (n)xy n−1 + a0 (n)y n

+y an (n)xn + an−1 (n)xn−1 y + · · · + a2 (n)x2 y n−2 + a1 (n)xy n−1 + a0 (n)y n

= an (n)xn+1 + an−1 (n)xn y + · · · + a2 (n)x3 y n−2 + a1 (n)x2 y n−1 + a0 (n)xy n

+an (n)xn y + an−1 (n)xn−1 y 2 + · · · + a2 (n)x2 y n−1 + a1 (n)xy n + a0 (n)y n+1
= an (n)xn+1 + (an−1 (n) + an (n))xn y + (an−2 (n) + an−1 (n))xn−2 y 2 + · · ·
+(a0 (n) + a1 (n))xy n + a0 (n)y n+1
= xn+1 + (an−1 (n) + an (n))xn y + (an−2 (n) + an−1 (n))xn−2 y 2 + · · ·
+(a0 (n) + a1 (n))xy n + y n+1 (5)

The equations (4) and (5) both give us expansions of (x + y)n+1. If we now compare
coefficients of like terms on the right hand sides of these two equations, we get

an+1 (n + 1) = 1
an (n + 1) = an−1 (n) + an (n)
an−1 (n + 1) = an−2 (n) + an−1 (n)
..
.
a1 (n + 1) = a0 (n) + a1 (n)
a0 (n + 1) = 1,

that is an+1 (n + 1) = 1 = a0 (n + 1) and for 0 < k < n + 1, ak (n + 1) = ak (n) + ak−1 (n).

We have now proved that the coefficients ak (n) must satisfy the recurrence relation

ak (n + 1) = ak (n) + ak−1 (n) for 0 < k < n + 1, n ≥ 1

and that a0 (n + 1) = an (n + 1) = 1.
This means that once we know that a0 (1) = a1 (1) = 1 we can find any other coefficient
by repeatedly using these equations. (This is exactly what we are doing when we write
down Pascal’s triangle.)

Exercises

1. Use Pascal’s triangle to

(a) expand (a + b)6 ;
(b) expand (x + x1 )5 ;
(c) expand (1 − x)9 ;
(d) expand (2 + 3x)8 ;
(e) find the coefficient of x7 y 3 in the expansion (x + y)10 .
.

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2 Permutations and combinations
We now look at the second problem: finding a formula for ak (n). Let’s make a list of
what we can say about this number:

• ak (n) is the coefficient of xk y n−k in the expansion of

(x + y)n = (x + y)(x + y)(x + y) · · · (x + y) (n factors).

• A term of the form xk y n−k is obtained in the process of multiplying out (x + y)n by
selecting an x from k of the factors (each factor is equal to x + y), and a y from the
remaining n − k factors. For example, in the expansion of (x + y)3 a term of the
form x2 y can be obtained by selecting an x from 2 of the factors x + y and a y from
the remaining factor x + y.

• There is more than one way of obtaining a term of the form xk y n−k (except when
k = n or k = 0, when there is only one). The number of ways we can do this gives us
the coefficient of xk y n−k in the expansion of (x + y)n . For example, in the expansion
of (x + y)3 a term of the form x2 y can be obtained by selecting an x from the first
two factors and a y from the third factor, giving the term xxy, or by selecting an
x from the first and third factor and a y from the second (giving the term xyx), or
by selecting an x from the second and third factors and a y from the first (giving
yxx). This means that there are 3 ways of obtaining the term x2 y, and hence its
coefficient is 3.

Our problem therefore is to find the number of ways of selecting k x’s and n − k y’s from
the factors in the product (x + y)n .
At this stage it is useful to introduce some new notation and terminology.

Definition 2.1 (Factorial) If n is a positive integer we define

n! = 1 × 2 × 3 × · · · × n.

We read n! as “ n factorial”.
We define 0! = 1.

Here are the first few factorials: 0! = 1, 1! = 1, 2! = 2, 3! = 6, 4! = 24, 5! = 120.

When working with factorials it is useful to remember that (n + 1)n! = (n + 1)!
We now look at a problem which at first may seem to have little to do with exapanding
(x + y)n (but be patient!). How many ways are there of arranging n different objects?
For example, in how many ways can we arrange the four letters a, b, c and d? Before we
answer this question, some more terminology:

Definition 2.2 (Permutation) A way of arranging objects is known as a permutation

of these objects.

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Example 2.3 abc, bca and cab are three different permutations of the letters a, b and c.
Let’s see if we can work out how many permutations there are in all. To write down a
permutation, we first need to select the first letter. Since there are 3 letters, we have 3
choices for the first letter. When it comes to choosing the second letter, we have 2 choices
left (since we have already used one letter). We have 2 choices for the second letter for
each of the 3 choices for the first letter, so that there are 3 × 2 ways of choosing the first
two letters. We have only one choice for the third letter, since we have already used up 2
of the 3 letters. In all we therefore have 3 × 2 × 1 = 3! = 6 permutations of three different
letters. Try to find all six of them.

We can argue as above that there are n! = n × (n − 1) × (n − 2) × · · · × 2 × 1 different

permutations of n different objects. There are n possible choices for the first position,
n − 1 for the second, and so on, until there is only one possible choice for the last one. So
the number of permutations of n different objects is just n(n − 1) × · · · × 2 × 1 = n!
Let’s now look at a slightly more difficult problem: How many permutations are there
of k objects chosen from n objects, where k < n? For example, how many different
arrangements are there of 2 letters chosen from the 4 letters a, b, c and d? Some of them
are ab, ac, bd, db.
We can argue as above that there are 4 choices for the first letter and 3 for the second
letter, giving 3 × 2 = 6 permutations of 2 letters chosen from 4.
The same argument shows that, more generally, there are n(n−1)(n−2) · · · (n−k + 1)
permutations of k objects chosen from n different objects. The last number in this product
is n − (k − 1) = n − k + 1, since there must be k factors in this product (we are choosing
k objects). The first factor is n = n − 0, the second is n − 1, and so on, until the k-th
factor n − (k − 1).
The number of permutations of k objects chosen from n is sometimes denoted by n Pk ,
i.e.
n
Pk = n(n − 1)(n − 2) · · · (n − k + 1).
In the case where k = n, we have n Pn = n(n − 1) · · · (n − n+) = n!

Example 2.4 There are 4 P3 = 4 × 3 × 2 = 24 permutations of three letters chosen from

the four letters a, b, c and d. (See if you can find all 24!)

When counting the number of permutations of k objects, the order in which they
appear is important. In the example above, the permutations abc, acb, bac, bca, cab and
cba all use the same three letters a, b and c, but the order in which they appear in each
permutation is different. If we only wanted to know how many different selections of
three letters from four we can make, not taking into account the order of selection, there
would be only 4 (instead of 24) possibilities: abc, abd, acd and bcd. We call each of these
a combination of 3 letters chosen from 4.

Definition 2.5 (Combination) A selection of k objects from n objects (with k = 6 n) not

taking into account the order of selection is called a combination of k objects from n.

We have already seen that there are n Pk permutations of k objects (let’s call them
letters) chosen from n. Some of these permutations will contain the same k letters. Since

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there are k Pk = k! permutations of k letters, amongst the n Pk permutations of k letters
chosen from n, there will be a number of groups of permutations which use the same
letters. The number of such groups is in fact the number of combinations  of k letters
n
chosen from n. This number is denoted by n Ck (for “n choose k”) or by and is
k
given by   n
n n Pk n(n − 1) · · · (n − k + 1)
Ck = = = .
k k! k!
As we’ll see later it is convenient to define
 
0
= 1
0
 
n
= 1 for every n,
0

even though we cannot interpret this in terms of combinations.

 
n n
The notation Ck is used on calculators, but in what follows we’ll use the notation .
k

Example 2.6 The number of selections of 3 letters from the 4 letters a, b, c and d is
given by  
4 4! 24
= = = 4.
3 3!1! 6
(This agrees with the fact that we were able to find 4 combinations of 3 letters chosen
from a, b, c and d earlier.)

We can write the expression for this number in an easier to remember form:
 
n n(n − 1) · · · (n − k + 1)
=
k k!
n(n − 1) · · · (n − k + 1)(n − k)(n − k − 1) × · · · × 2 × 1
=
k!(n − k)(n − k − 1) × · · · × 2 × 1
n!
= .
k!(n − k)!

Proposition 2.7 Let n and k be positive integers, with 0 < k ≤ n. Then

     
n n n
(a) = 1 and = = n.
n 1 n−1
   
n n
(b) =
n−k k
     
n n n+1
(c) + =
k k−1 k

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Proof: (a) and (b) follow easily from the definition.
(c)
   
n n n! n!
+ = +
k k−1 k!(n − k)! (k − 1)!(n − (k − 1))!
n!(n − k + 1) + n!k
=
k!(n − k + 1)!
n!(n + 1)
=
k!(n − k + 1)!
(n + 1)!
=
k!((n + 1) − k))!
 
n+1
= .
k

Exercises

123! 102!
1. (a) Find and
122! 99!
n!
(b) Let k and n be positive integers, with k < n. Write without using factorials;
k!
simplify your answer.
(2n)! a(n + 1)
2. Let a(n) = . Find . Simplify your answer.
n! a(n)
3. Prove Proposition 2.7 (a) and (b).
   
n n
4. Solve for n: = .
7 5
5. Prove:
   
n+2 n
(a) − = n2
3 3
     
n n n
(b) (k + 1) +k =n .
k+1 k k

3 The binomial theorem

What is the link between expanding (x + y)n and combinations? We have seen before
that the coefficient of the term xk y n−k in this expansion is equal to the number of ways
in which we can select k x’s and n − k y’s from the n factors in (x + y)n (each factor is
equal to x + y). For each selection, we are in fact only need to decide from which of the
n factors to select an x, until we have selected k x’s. Once we have done that, we have to
select a y from all the remaining factors. So at first it looks as if the number of ways will

8
be equal to the number of permutations of k objects chosen from n, that is to n Pk . But
since all k x’s are equal, the order in which we choose them is not important. No matter
in what order we choose the k x’s, when we multiply them and the n − k y’s we’ll always
get xk y n−k . So the number of ways in which we can select k x’s and n − k y’sfrom the n
n
factors is in fact the number of combinations of k objects chosen from n, or .
k

Example 3.1 In the case where n = 3 and k = 2, we are looking for the number of ways
in which we can select 2 x’s and 1 y from the 3 factors in (x + y)3. One possible selection
is to choose an x from the first and third factors (and therefore a y from the second).
When multiplying out (x + y)3 this will correspond to the term xyx, which equals x2 y.
The three possible selections of 2 x’s (and one y) correspond to the three terms xxy, xyx
and yxx in the expansion. There aretherefore
 three ways in which we can get the product
3
x2 y, corresponding to the fact that = 3.
2

We have now solved the problem of finding a formula for the coefficients ak (n) in the
expansion of (x + y)n . If n is a positive integer and

(x+y)n = an (n)xn +an−1 (n)xn−1 y+an−2(n)xn−2 y 2 +· · ·+a2 (n)x2 y n−2 +a1 (n)xy n−1 +a0 (n)y n ,
 
n
then ak (n) = for k = 0, 1, 2, . . . , n.
k
If we put together everything that we have discovered about the expansion of (x + y)n,
we get:

Theorem 3.2 (Binomial theorem) If x and y are real numbers and n is a positive integer,
then
         
n n n n n−1 n n−2 2 n n−1 n
(x+y) = x + x y+ x y +· · ·+ xy + y n,
0 1 n−2 n−1 n
or in sigma notation
n  
n
X n
(x + y) = xn−k y n .
k
k=0

 
n
Remarks: (a) It should now be clear why it is convenient to define = 1.
0
(b) We can interchange the roles of x and y in the statement of the binomial theorem:
n   n  
n n
X n n−k k
X n
(x + y) = (y + x) = y x = xk y n−k ;
k k
k=0 k=0

you may find this easier to remember.

(c) An expression with two terms such as x + y issometimes
 known as a binomial,
n
hence the name binomial theorem. The numbers are also known as binomial
k
coefficients.

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(d) In the special case where y = 1, the binomial theorem becomes
n  
n n
X n
(1 + x) = (x + 1) = xk .
k
k=0

Example 3.3 Let’s find the coefficient of x4 y 11 in the expansion of (x + y)15. According
to the binomial theorem this is given by
 
15 15 × 14 × 13 × 12
= = 15 × 7 × 13 = 1365.
4 1×2×3×4
 
15 15 × 14 × 13 × 12 15!
We can calculate as or as . Clearly it would have taken
4 4! 4!11!
longer to find both 15! and 11!, so we opted for the first method. This is usually a good
idea when you have to do the calculations by hand, except perhaps when n is small. Most
calculators have a key (usually labelled nCr) for calculating binomial coefficients.

Example 3.4 We look at a slightly harder problem: finding the coefficient of x−5 in the
expansion of (x2 − x23 )5 . The binomial theorem gives
 5   5 5  
2 2 2 2 X 5
x − 3 = x + − 3 = (x2 )5−k (−1)k 2k x−3k
x x k
k=0
5  
X 5
= x(2(5−k)−3k) (−1)k 2k x−3k .
k
k=0

We’ll get a term in x−5when 10 − 2k − 3k = −5, or k = 3. The coefficient of x−5 is

5
therefore given by (−1)3 23 = 5 × (−1) × 8 = −40.
3
0
The constant term in the same expansion is the coefficient
  of x . For this we need
5
10−2k −3k = 0, or k = 2, and the constant term equals (−1)2 22 = 10×1×4 = 40.
2
For the coefficient of the term in x4 we need 10 − 5k = 4. Since there is no integer k
satisfying this equation, this means that there is no term in x4 , or equivalently, the
coefficient of x4 is 0.

Exercises

1. Show that for n ≥ 1:

n  
X n
(a) = 2n ;
k
k=0
n  
X
k n
(b) (−1) = 0.
k
k=0

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 2. Expand (1 − x + 2x2 )3 into a polynomial of degree 6 by grouping the terms in two
ways:

(a) (1 − (x − 2x2 ))3

(b) ((1 − x) + 2x2 )3 .

3. Write down, in increasing powers of x, all the terms in the expansion of (1−x+2x2 )7
up to the term in x5 .
 15
13 3 3
4. Find the coefficient of x in the expansion of − 2x .
x
 10
3 1
5. Find the constant term in the expansion of 2x − 2 .
2x

4 Mathematical induction
The binomial theorem (Theorem 3.2) says that for every positive integer n,
n  
n
X n
(x + y) = xn−k y n .
k
k=0

Statement like these that claim that something is true for every positive integer are
common in mathematics. In this section we look at a method, known as mathematical
induction, for proving such statements. We will discuss the method and then use it to
give another proof of the binomial theorem.
Suppose that we have a statement that depends
Pn on an integer2 n. (Examples of such
n
statements are “ 7 − 1 is divisible by 6 ” and “ k=1(2k − 1) = n ”.) Suppose also that
we can prove two things:

(a) The statement is true for n = 1.

(b) Whenever the statement is true for some integer k ≥ 1, then it will also be true for
the next integer k + 1.

Then we can argue that the statement must be true for n = 2, since by (a) it is true for
n = 1, and by (b) it must therefore be true for the next integer n = 1 + 1 = 2. But
then we can repeat the process, this time starting with n = 2 and arguing that by (b)
the statement must be true for n = 2 + 1 = 3. In the same way we can argue that the
statement must be true for n = 4, 5, 6 and so on, and therefore for all positive integers n.
You may well feel a little uncomfortable with the part that says “and so on, and
therefore for all positive integers n.” The Principle of Mathematical Induction makes
this idea precise, essentially by saying this reasoning is valid because it depends on a
property of the set of positive integers. We usually take the set of positive integers and its
properties for granted, and use it as a starting point for proving many other things. This
is not such a bad idea. We have to start with something and make some assumptions
and then build on that, and we can do worse than start with the positive integers. The

11
principle of mathematical induction states one of the properties of the set of positive
integers that we’ll assume without proof.
We denote the set of positive integers by N+ .

Principle of Mathematical Induction (PMI)

Let S be a set of positive integers such that

(a) 1 ∈ S;
(b) whenever k ∈ S, then k + 1 ∈ S.

Then S = N+ .

To prove that a statement which depends on the positive integer n is true for all
positive integers n, we let S be the set of all positive integers for which the statement is
true. If we can show that the statement is true for n = 1, this tells us that 1 ∈ S. If we
can furthermore show that whenever the statement is true for n = k, then it is also true
for n = k + 1, this tells us that if k ∈ S, then k + 1 ∈ S. The PMI then says that S = N+ ,
and so the statement is true for all positive integers.

Example 4.1 We use induction to prove that for all positive inters n,
n
X
(2i − 1) = n2 .
i=1
Pn
Let S = {n ∈ N+ : i=1 (2i − 1) = n2 }.
P1
Then 1 ∈ S, since i=1 (2i − 1) = 2 × 1 − 1 = 1 = 12 .
Suppose k ∈ S. Then ki=1 (2i − 1) = k 2 .
P
(1)
We want to show that it follows from
Pk+1this that k + 1 ∈ S.2
To do this, we have to show that i=1 (2i − 1) = (k + 1) .
k+1
X k
X
(2i − 1) = (2i − 1) + 2(k + 1) − 1
i=1 i=1
2
= k + 2k + 1 using (1)
= (k + 1)2 ,
Pn
showing that k + 1 ∈ S. By the PMI, S = N+ , and so i=1 (2i − 1) = n2 for all n ∈ N+ .

Example 4.2 We prove that for all positive integers n, 7n − 1 is divisible by 6. To say
that a number is divisible by 6 means that when we divide it by 6, we get an integer,
and no remainder. Therefore a number is divisible by 6 if and only if we can write it as
6 times some integer.
Let S = {n ∈ N+ : 7n − 1 is divisible by 6}.
Since 71 − 1 = 6, it follows that 1 ∈ S.
Now suppose that k ∈ S. Then 7k − 1 is divisible by 6.
This means that there is an integer m such that 7k − 1 = 6m (2).

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We have to show that k + 1 ∈ S, that is, that 7k+1 − 1 is divisible by 6.
It follow from (2) that 7k = 1 + 6m. Therefore

7k+1 − 1 = 7 × 7k − 1 = 7 × (1 + 6m) − 1 = 7 + 7 × 6m − 1 = 6 + 7 × 6m = 6(1 + 7m).

Since 1+7m is an integer, we have proved that we can write 7k+1 −1 as 6 times an integer,
and therefore that it is divisible by 6. We have shown that k + 1 ∈ S, and it follows from
the PMI that S = N+ , and so 7n − 1 is divisible by 6 for all positive integers n.

Example 4.3 For our last example we give another proof of the binomial theorem, this
time using mathematical induction. Let
( n   )
X n
S = n ∈ N+ : (x + y)n = xn−i y i .
i
i=0
   
1 1
Since (x + y)1 = x + y = x1−0 y 0 + x1−1 y 1, it follows that 1 ∈ S.
0 1
Now suppose k ∈ S. Then
k  
k
X k
(x + y) = xk−i y i (3)
i
i=0

We have to show that k + 1 ∈ S.

(x + y)k+1 = (x + y)(x + y)k

k   !
X k
= (x + y) xk−i y i using (3)
i
i=0
k   k  
X k k−i+1 i
X k
= x y + xk−i y i+1
i i
i=0 i=0
  k   k−1    
k k+1 0
X k X k k
= x y + xk−i+1 i
y + k−i i+1
x y + x0 y k+1
0 i i k
i=1 i=0
k
X k   k  
k+1 k−i+1 i
X k
= x + x y + xk−j+1y j + y k+1
i j−1
i=1 j=1
(follows by putting j = i + 1 in the second sum in the previous line)
k   k  
k+1
X k k−i+1 i
X k
= x + x y + xk−i+1 y i + y k+1
i i−1
i=1 i=1
  k      
k+1 k+1
X k k k−i+1 i k+1
= x + + x y + y k+1
0 i i−1 k+1
i=1
   
k+1 k+1
(since = = 1)
0 k+1

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   k    
k+1 k+1
X k+1 k−i+1 i k+1
= x + x y + y k+1
0 i k+1
i=1
(using Proposition 2.7(c))
k+1  
X k+1
= xk+1−i y i
i
i=0

Hence k + 1 ∈ S, and so by the PMI, S = N+ .

There are further examples of proofs by mathematical induction in the textbook (Calculus:
Concepts and contexts, 4th edition, by James Stewart) on pages 87 and A44.

Exercises

1. Use mathematical induction to prove that for all n ∈ N+ :

n
X 1
(a) i = n(n + 1)
i=1
2
n
X 1
(b) (2i − 1)2 = n(2n + 1)(2n − 1)
i=1
3
n
X
(c) r × r! = (n + 1)! − 1.
r=1

2. Let f (x) = ln(1 + x).

(a) Find f ′ (x) and f ′′ (x).

(b) Guess a formula for the n-th derivative f (n) (x) of f (x).
(c) Prove that your guess is correct by using mathematical induction.

3. Let f and g be two functions that have derivatives of all orders, and put h(x) =
f (x)g(x). For r a positive integer, write f (r) for the derivative of order r of f , and
put f (0) = f . Use induction to show that for every positive integer n,
n  
(n)
X n
h (x) = f (n−r) (x)g (r) .
r
r=0

4. Use induction on n to prove that for every positive integer n and every integer r
such that 0 ≤ r ≤n, n!is divisible by r!(n − r)!.
n
[This shows that will always be an integer.]
r

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