A matrix approach to the binomial theorem (Q362494): Difference between revisions

By observing the fact that the binomial theorem \[ \displaystyle{x^{n}=\sum_{k=0}^{n}}\Big{(}\begin{matrix} n \\ k \\ \end{matrix}\Big{)}(x-1)^{k} \] can be written in the matrix form, the author investigates factorizations of a matrix with the \((i,j)\)th entry equal to \(x^{i-j}\) via the Pascal matrix. Then the author uses these factorizations to deduce numerous combinatorial identities as \[ \Big{(}\begin{matrix} i-1 \\ j-1 \\ \end{matrix}\Big{)}\displaystyle{\sum_{k=0}^{i-j}(-1)^{k}}\Big{(}\begin{matrix} i-j \\ k \\ \end{matrix}\Big{)}{_{2}F}_{1}(1,-k;j;x)=x^{i-j}, \] which generalizes the binomial theorem, and the identity \[ \Big{(}\begin{matrix} i \\ j \\ \end{matrix}\Big{)}+ x \Big{(}\begin{matrix} i-1 \\ j \\ \end{matrix}\Big{)} {_{2}F}_{1}(1,j-i+1;1-i;x)= \Big{(}\begin{matrix} i \\ j \\ \end{matrix}\Big{)} {_{2}F}_{1}(1,j-i;-i;x), \] which generalizes the well-known identity \[ \displaystyle{\sum_{k=0}^{i-1}x^{k}=\frac{x^{i}-1}{x-1}}. \]