Binomial Coefficients

CS/APMA 202
Rosen section 4.4
Aaron Bloomfield

1
 Binomial Coefficients
It allows us to do a quick expansion of
( x+ y ) n

Why it’s really important:

It provides a good context to present
proofs
 Especially combinatorial proofs

2
 Review: corollary 1
from section 4.3
Let n and r be non-negative integers with
r ≤ n. Then C(n,r) = C(n,n-r)
Or,  n   n 
  
r  n  r
   

Proof (from last slide set):

n!
C ( n, r ) 
r!(n  r )!

n! n!
C (n, n  r )  
(n  r )! n  (n  r ) ! r!(n  r )!
3
 Review: combinatorial proof
A combinatorial proof is a proof that uses
counting arguments to prove a theorem,
rather than some other method such as
algebraic techniques

Essentially, show that both sides of the

proof manage to count the same objects
 Usually in the form of an English explanation
with supporting formulae

4
 Polynomial expansion
Consider (x+y)3: ( x  y )3  x 3  3x 2 y  3 xy 2  y 3
Rephrase it as:

   
( x  y )( x  y )( x  y )  x 3  x 2 y  x 2 y  x 2 y  xy 2  xy 2  xy 2  y 3

When choosing x twice and y once, there are

C(3,2) = C(3,1) = 3 ways to choose where the x
comes from
When choosing x once and y twice, there are
C(3,2) = C(3,1) = 3 ways to choose where the y
comes from

5
 Polynomial expansion
Consider ( x  y ) 5  x 5  5 x 4 y  10 x 3 y 2  10 x 2 y 3  5 xy 4  y 5
To obtain the x5 term
 Each time you multiple by (x+y), you select the x
 Thus, of the 5 choices, you choose x 5 times
C(5,5) = 1
 Alternatively, you choose y 0 times
C(5,0) = 1
To obtain the x4y term
 Four of the times you multiply by (x+y), you select the x
The other time you select the y
 Thus, of the 5 choices, you choose x 4 times
C(5,4) = 5
 Alternatively, you choose y 1 time
C(5,1) = 5
To obtain the x3y2 term
 C(5,3) = C(5,2) = 10
Etc… 6
 Polynomial expansion
For (x+y)5

( x  y )5  x 5  5 x 4 y  10 x 3 y 2  10 x 2 y 3  5 xy 4  y 5

 5 5  5  4  5 3 2  5  2 3  5 4  5 5
( x  y )    x    x y    x y    x y    xy    y
5

 5  4  3  2 1 0

7
 Polynomial expansion:
The binomial theorem
For (x+y)n
 n  n 0  n  n 1 1  n  1 n 1  n  0 n
( x  y )    x y  
n
 x y      x y    x y
n  n  1 1 0
 n  n 0  n  n 1 1  n  1 n 1  n  0 n
   x y    x y      x y    x y
0 1  n  1 n
n
 n  n j j
    x y
j 0  j 

The book calls this Theorem 1

8
 Examples
What is the coefficient of x12y13 in (x+y)25?
 25   25  25!
       5,200,300
 13   12  13!12!
What is the coefficient of x12y13 in (2x-3y)25?
 Rephrase it as (2x+(-3y))25
25
 25 
 2 x  (3 y )  25
   (2 x) 25 j (3 y ) j
j 0  j 

 The coefficient occurs when j=13:

 25  12 25! 12
 2 (3)13  2 (3)13  33,959,763,545,702,400
 13  13!12!
9
Rosen, section 4.4, question 4
Find the coefficient of x5y8 in (x+y)13

Answer: 13  13 

      1287
5 8

10
Pascal’s triangle
n= 0

8
11
 Pascal’s Identity
By Pascal’s identity:  7    6    6  or 21=15+6
 5  4  5
     
Let n and k be positive integers with n ≥ k.
Then  n  1   n    n 
 k   k  1  k 
     
 or C(n+1,k) = C(n,k-1) + C(n,k)
The book calls this Theorem 2
We will prove this via two ways:
 Combinatorial proof
 Using the formula for  n 
 
k  12
 Combinatorial proof of Pascal’s
identity
Prove C(n+1,k) = C(n,k-1) + C(n,k)
Consider a set T of n+1 elements
 We want to choose a subset of k elements
 We will count the number of subsets of k elements via 2 methods

Method 1: There are C(n+1,k) ways to choose such a subset

Method 2: Let a be an element of set T

Two cases
 a is in such a subset
There are C(n,k-1) ways to choose such a subset
 a is not in such a subset
There are C(n,k) ways to choose such a subset
Thus, there are C(n,k-1) + C(n,k) ways to choose a subset of k
elements

Therefore, C(n+1,k) = C(n,k-1) + C(n,k)

13
 Rosen, section 4.4, question 19:
algebraic proof of Pascal’s identity
 n  1  n   n 
       
 k   k  1  k 
(n  1)! n! n!
 
k!(n  1  k )! (k  1)!(n  (k  1))! k!(n  k )!
(n  1)n! n! n!
 
k (k  1)!(n  1  k )(n  k )! (k  1)!(n  k  1)(n  k )! k (k  1)!(n  k )!
(n  1) 1 1 Substitutions:
 
k (n  1  k ) (n  k  1) k
(n  1  k )! (n  1  k ) * (n  k )!
(n  1) k (n  k  1)
  (n  1)! (n  1)n!
k (n  1  k ) k (n  k  1) k (n  k  1)
(n  k  1)  (n  k  1)(n  k )!
n 1  k  n  k 1
n 1  n 1 14
 April Fools Day Jokes
Privacy policy
 From time to time, in order to improve Google Gulp's
usefulness for our users, Google Gulp will send packets of
data related to your usage of this product from a wireless
transmitter embedded in the base of your Google Gulp
bottle tohttp://www.google.com/googlegulp/
the GulpPlex™, a heavily guarded, massively
parallel server farm whose location is known only to Eric
Schmidt, (or
whodo a Google
carries search
its GPS for ‘gulp’)
coordinates on a 64-bit-
encrypted smart card locked in a stainless-steel briefcase
handcuffed to his right wrist. No personally identifiable
information of any kind related to your consumption of
Google Gulp or any other current or future Google Foods
product will ever be given, sold, bartered, auctioned off,
tossed into a late-night poker pot, or otherwise
transferred in any way to any untrustworthy third party,
ever, we swear. See our Privacy Policy.
15
 Pascal’s triangle
n= 0 sum = 1 = 2n

1 2

2 4

3 8

4 16

5 32

6 64

7 128

8 256
16
 Proof practice: corollary 1
Let n be a non-negative integer. Then
n
n
 
  
k 0  k 
 2 n

Algebraic proof n
 n  n j j
2 n  (1  1) n ( x  y )     x y
n

j 0  j 
n
 n  k nk
   1 1
k 0  k 

n
n
   
k 0  k 
17
 Proof practice: corollary 1
Let n be a non-negative integer. Then n
n
 
  
k 0  k 
 2 n

Combinatorial proof
 A set with n elements has 2n subsets
By definition of power set
 Each subset has either 0 or 1 or 2 or … or n elements
n n
There are  0  subsets with 0 elements,  1  subsets with 1
element, … and  nn  subsets with n elements
 
Thus, the total number of subsets is
n
n
 Thus, n
n
  
k 0  k 
  
k 
k 0  
 2 n

18
 Pascal’s triangle
n= 0

8
20
 Proof practice: corollary 2
Let n be a positive integer. Then  (1) k  n   0
n

k 0 k 
Algebraic proof 0  0n
  (1)  1
n

n
n
   (1) k 1n  k
k 0  k 

n
n
   (1) k
k 0  k 
This implies that
n n n n  n n
                    
 0  2  4  1  3  5 21
 Proof practice: corollary 3
Let n be a non-negative integer. Then
n
n n
 2    3
k

k 0 k 

Algebraic proof
3n  (1  2) n
n
 n  nk k
   1 2
k 0  k 

n
n k
   2
k 0  k 
22
 Vandermonde’s identity
Let m, n, and r be non-negative integers
with r not exceeding either m or n. Then
 m  n  r  m  n 
      
 r  k 0  r  k  k 

The book calls this Theorem 3

23
 Combinatorial proof of
Vandermonde’s identity
Consider two sets, one with m items and one with n
items
m  n
 Then there are   ways to choose r items from the union of
 r 
those two sets
Next, we’ll find that value via a different means
 Pick k elements from the set with n elements
 Pick the remaining r-k elements from the set with m elements
 Via the product rule, there are  r m k  kn  ways to do that for EACH
  
value of k r
 m  n 
 Lastly, consider this for all values of k:   r  k  k 
  
k 0   
 m  n  r  m  n 
Thus,       
 r  k 0  r  k  k 
24
 Review of Rosen, section
4.3, question 11 (a)
How many bit strings of length 10 contain
exactly four 1’s?
 Find the positions of the four 1’s
 The order of those positions does not matter
Positions 2, 3, 5, 7 is the same as positions 7, 5, 3, 2
 Thus, the answer is C(10,4) = 210

Generalization of this result:

 There are C(n,r) possibilities of bit strings of length n
containing r ones

25
Yet another combinatorial proof
Let n and r be non-negative integers with r ≤ n.
Then  n  1 n  j 
     
 r  1 j r  r 
 The book calls this Theorem 4

We will do the combinatorial proof by showing

that both sides show the ways to count bit
strings of length n+1 with r+1 ones

From previous slide:  n  1 achieves this

 r  1
 
26
Yet another combinatorial proof
Next, show the right side counts the same objects
The final one must occur at position r+1 or r+2 or … or
n+1
Assume that it occurs at the kth bit, where r+1 ≤ k ≤ n+1
 Thus, there must be r ones in the first k-1 positions
 k  1
 Thus, there are  r  such strings of length k-1
As k can be any value from r+1 to n+1, the total number
of possibilities is n 1
 k  1 n
k  n
 j
 
k  r 1  r 
    
k r  r 
   
j r  r 

Thus,  n  1 n  j 
     
 r  1 j  r  r 
27
Rosen, section 4.4, question 24
Show that if p is a prime and k is an integer such that
1 ≤ k ≤ p-1, then p divides  p 
k
 p p!
  
We know that  k  k!( p  k )!

p divides the numerator (p!) once only

 Because p is prime, it does not have any factors less than p
We need to show that it does NOT divide the
denominator
 Otherwise the p factor would cancel out
Since k < p (it was given that k ≤ p-1), p cannot divide k!
Since k ≥ 1, we know that p-k < p, and thus p cannot
divide (p-k)!
Thus, p divides the numerator but not the denominator
Thus, p divides  kp 
28
Rosen, section 4.4, question 38
Give a combinatorial proof that if n is positive
integer then n
2 n
k n2
   n(n  1)2
k 0 k 
Provided hint: show that both sides count the
ways to select a subset of a set of n elements
together with two not necessarily distinct
elements from the subset

Following the other provided hint, we express

the right side as follows: n 2  n 
k n2 n 1
   n(n  1)2  n2
k 0 k 
29
Rosen, section 4.4, question 38
Show the left side properly counts the
desired property

n
n
Consider each
of the possible  k    
2

subset sizes k
k 0 k 

Choosing a subset of k
elements from a set of
Choosing one of n elements
the k elements in
the subset twice

30
Rosen, section 4.4, question 38
Two cases to show the right side: n(n-1)2n-2+n2n-1
 Pick the same element from the subset
Pick that one element from the set of n elements: total of n possibilities
Pick the rest of the subset
 As there are n-1 elements left, there are a total of 2 n-1 possibilities to pick a given
subset
We have to do both
 Thus, by the product rule, the total possibilities is the product of the two
 Thus, the total possibilities is n*2n-1
 Pick different elements from the subset
Pick the first element from the set of n elements: total of n possibilities
Pick the next element from the set of n-1 elements: total of n-1 possibilities
Pick the rest of the subset
 As there are n-2 elements left, there are a total of 2 n-2 possibilities to pick a given
subset
We have to do all three
 Thus, by the product rule, the total possibilities is the product of the three
 Thus, the total possibilities is n*(n-1)*2n-2
 We do one or the other
Thus, via the sum rule, the total possibilities is the sum of the two
Or n*2n-1+n*(n-1)*2n-2
31
 Quick survey
 I felt I understood the material in this slide
set…
a) Very well
b) With some review, I’ll be good
c) Not really
d) Not at all

32
 Quick survey
 The pace of the lecture for this slide set
was…
a) Fast
b) About right
c) A little slow
d) Too slow

33
 Quick survey
 How interesting was the material in this slide
set? Be honest!
a) Wow! That was SOOOOOO cool!
b) Somewhat interesting
c) Rather borting
d) Zzzzzzzzzzz

34
Becoming an IEEE author

35
36