Triangular numberA triangular number or triangle number counts objects arranged in an equilateral triangle. Triangular numbers are a type of figurate number, other examples being square numbers and cube numbers. The nth triangular number is the number of dots in the triangular arrangement with n dots on each side, and is equal to the sum of the n natural numbers from 1 to n. The sequence of triangular numbers, starting with the 0th triangular number, is The triangular numbers are given by the following explicit formulas: where , does not mean division, but is the notation for a binomial coefficient.
Falling and rising factorialsIn mathematics, the falling factorial (sometimes called the descending factorial, falling sequential product, or lower factorial) is defined as the polynomial The rising factorial (sometimes called the Pochhammer function, Pochhammer polynomial, ascending factorial, rising sequential product, or upper factorial) is defined as The value of each is taken to be 1 (an empty product) when These symbols are collectively called factorial powers. The Pochhammer symbol, introduced by Leo August Pochhammer, is the notation (x)_n , where n is a non-negative integer.
Binomial coefficientIn mathematics, the binomial coefficients are the positive integers that occur as coefficients in the binomial theorem. Commonly, a binomial coefficient is indexed by a pair of integers n ≥ k ≥ 0 and is written It is the coefficient of the xk term in the polynomial expansion of the binomial power (1 + x)n; this coefficient can be computed by the multiplicative formula which using factorial notation can be compactly expressed as For example, the fourth power of 1 + x is and the binomial coefficient is the coefficient of the x2 term.
Binomial theoremIn elementary algebra, the binomial theorem (or binomial expansion) describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial. According to the theorem, it is possible to expand the polynomial (x + y)n into a sum involving terms of the form axbyc, where the exponents b and c are nonnegative integers with b + c = n, and the coefficient a of each term is a specific positive integer depending on n and b. For example, for n = 4, The coefficient a in the term of axbyc is known as the binomial coefficient or (the two have the same value).
Pascal's ruleIn mathematics, Pascal's rule (or Pascal's formula) is a combinatorial identity about binomial coefficients. It states that for positive natural numbers n and k, where is a binomial coefficient; one interpretation of the coefficient of the xk term in the expansion of (1 + x)n. There is no restriction on the relative sizes of n and k, since, if n < k the value of the binomial coefficient is zero and the identity remains valid. Pascal's rule can also be viewed as a statement that the formula solves the linear two-dimensional difference equation over the natural numbers.
Multinomial theoremIn mathematics, the multinomial theorem describes how to expand a power of a sum in terms of powers of the terms in that sum. It is the generalization of the binomial theorem from binomials to multinomials. For any positive integer m and any non-negative integer n, the multinomial formula describes how a sum with m terms expands when raised to an arbitrary power n: where is a multinomial coefficient. The sum is taken over all combinations of nonnegative integer indices k_1 through k_m such that the sum of all k_i is n.
Recurrence relationIn mathematics, a recurrence relation is an equation according to which the th term of a sequence of numbers is equal to some combination of the previous terms. Often, only previous terms of the sequence appear in the equation, for a parameter that is independent of ; this number is called the order of the relation. If the values of the first numbers in the sequence have been given, the rest of the sequence can be calculated by repeatedly applying the equation. In linear recurrences, the nth term is equated to a linear function of the previous terms.
CombinationIn mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set: an apple and a pear; an apple and an orange; or a pear and an orange. More formally, a k-combination of a set S is a subset of k distinct elements of S. So, two combinations are identical if and only if each combination has the same members.
FactorizationIn mathematics, factorization (or factorisation, see English spelling differences) or factoring consists of writing a number or another mathematical object as a product of several factors, usually smaller or simpler objects of the same kind. For example, 3 × 5 is an integer factorization of 15, and (x – 2)(x + 2) is a polynomial factorization of x2 – 4. Factorization is not usually considered meaningful within number systems possessing division, such as the real or complex numbers, since any can be trivially written as whenever is not zero.
Figurate numberThe term figurate number is used by different writers for members of different sets of numbers, generalizing from triangular numbers to different shapes (polygonal numbers) and different dimensions (polyhedral numbers). The term can mean polygonal number a number represented as a discrete r-dimensional regular geometric pattern of r-dimensional balls such as a polygonal number (for r = 2) or a polyhedral number (for r = 3). a member of the subset of the sets above containing only triangular numbers, pyramidal numbers, and their analogs in other dimensions.
MonomialIn mathematics, a monomial is, roughly speaking, a polynomial which has only one term. Two definitions of a monomial may be encountered: A monomial, also called power product, is a product of powers of variables with nonnegative integer exponents, or, in other words, a product of variables, possibly with repetitions. For example, is a monomial. The constant is a monomial, being equal to the empty product and to for any variable . If only a single variable is considered, this means that a monomial is either or a power of , with a positive integer.
Power of twoA power of two is a number of the form 2n where n is an integer, that is, the result of exponentiation with number two as the base and integer n as the exponent. In a context where only integers are considered, n is restricted to non-negative values, so there are 1, 2, and 2 multiplied by itself a certain number of times. The first ten powers of 2 for non-negative values of n are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, ... Because two is the base of the binary numeral system, powers of two are common in computer science.
Positional notationPositional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal system). More generally, a positional system is a numeral system in which the contribution of a digit to the value of a number is the value of the digit multiplied by a factor determined by the position of the digit. In early numeral systems, such as Roman numerals, a digit has only one value: I means one, X means ten and C a hundred (however, the value may be negated if placed before another digit).
On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer SequencesThe On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) is an online database of integer sequences. It was created and maintained by Neil Sloane while researching at AT&T Labs. He transferred the intellectual property and hosting of the OEIS to the OEIS Foundation in 2009. Sloane is the chairman of the OEIS Foundation. OEIS records information on integer sequences of interest to both professional and amateur mathematicians, and is widely cited. , it contains over 360,000 sequences, making it the largest database of its kind.
Faulhaber's formulaIn mathematics, Faulhaber's formula, named after the early 17th century mathematician Johann Faulhaber, expresses the sum of the p-th powers of the first n positive integers as a polynomial in n. In modern notation, Faulhaber's formula is Here, is the binomial coefficient "p + 1 choose k", and the Bj are the Bernoulli numbers with the convention that . Faulhaber's formula concerns expressing the sum of the p-th powers of the first n positive integers as a (p + 1)th-degree polynomial function of n.
Blaise PascalBlaise Pascal (pæˈskæl , alsoUK-ˈskɑːl,'paesk@l,-skæl , USpɑːˈskɑːl ; blɛz paskal; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest mathematical work was on conic sections; he wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of 16. He later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science.
Narayana numberIn combinatorics, the Narayana numbers form a triangular array of natural numbers, called the Narayana triangle, that occur in various counting problems. They are named after Canadian mathematician T. V. Narayana (1930–1987). The Narayana numbers can be expressed in terms of binomial coefficients: The first eight rows of the Narayana triangle read: An example of a counting problem whose solution can be given in terms of the Narayana numbers , is the number of words containing n pairs of parentheses, which are correctly matched (known as Dyck words) and which contain k distinct nestings.
Mathematical inductionMathematical induction is a method for proving that a statement is true for every natural number , that is, that the infinitely many cases all hold. Informal metaphors help to explain this technique, such as falling dominoes or climbing a ladder: Mathematical induction proves that we can climb as high as we like on a ladder, by proving that we can climb onto the bottom rung (the basis) and that from each rung we can climb up to the next one (the step). A proof by induction consists of two cases.
SimplexIn geometry, a simplex (plural: simplexes or simplices) is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope in any given dimension. For example, a 0-dimensional simplex is a point, a 1-dimensional simplex is a line segment, a 2-dimensional simplex is a triangle, a 3-dimensional simplex is a tetrahedron, and a 4-dimensional simplex is a 5-cell. Specifically, a k-simplex is a k-dimensional polytope which is the convex hull of its k + 1 vertices.
