BINOMIAL THEOREM

1. Statement of Binomial theorem : If a, b ∈ R and n ∈ N, then

n
n n
(a + b) = C0 a b + C1 a n 0 n n–1 1
b + C2 a n n–2 2
b +...+ Cr a n n–r r n
b +...+ Cn a b = 0 n ∑
r =0
n
Cr an −r b r

n n n n 2 n r n n
(1 + x) = C0 + C1 x + C2 x +... + Cr x +...+ Cn x

2. Properties of Binomial Theorem :

(i) The number of terms in the expansion is n + 1.

(ii) The sum of the indices of a and b in each term is n.
(iii) The binomial coefficients (n C0, nC1 .......... nCn) of the terms equidistant from the beginning and
the end are equal, i.e. n C0 = n Cn , n C1 = n Cn–1 etc. {Q nCr = nCn–r}

(iv) General term : T r+1 = n Cr an–r br

(v) Middle term (s) :
n+2
(a) If n is even, there is only one middle term, which is   th term.
 2 
 n + 1 n+1 
(b) If n is odd, there are two middle terms, which are   th and  + 1 th terms.
 2   2 
(vi) Numerically greatest term in the expansion of (x + y) , n ∈ N
n

 (n + 1) | y |  (n + 1) | y |
Let r =  | x | + | y |  . If | x | + | y | is not an integer, then t r + 1 is numerically greatest.
 
(n + 1) | y |
If | x | + | y | is an integer, then t r = t r + 1 and both are numercally greatest.

∑
n!
3. Multinomial Theorem : (x 1 + x 2 + x 3 + ........... x k)n = x 1r1 . x r22 ...x rkk
r1 +r2 +...+ rk =n
r1! r2 !... rk !

n+k–1
Here total number of terms in the expansion = Ck–1
4. Application of Binomial Theorem :

If ( A + B) = Ι + f where Ι and n are positive integers, n being odd and 0 < f < 1 then (Ι + f)
n

f = kn where A – B2 = k > 0 and A – B < 1.

If n is an even integer, then (Ι + f) (1 – f) = kn
5. Properties of Binomial Coefficients :
n
(i) C0 + n C1 + n C2 + ........+ n Cn = 2n
n
(ii) C0 – n C1 + n C2 – n C3 + ............. + (–1)n n Cn = 0
n
(iii) C0 + n C2 + n C4 + .... = n C1 + n C3 + n C5 + .... = 2n–1

n
n n n+1
Cr n −r +1
(iv) Cr + Cr–1 = Cr (v) n =
Cr −1 r