Special Cases
If α is a nonnegative integer n, then the (n + 1)th term and all later terms in the series are 0, since each contains a factor (n − n); thus in this case the series is finite and gives the algebraic binomial formula.
The following variant holds for arbitrary complex β, but is especially useful for handling negative integer exponents in (1):
To prove it, substitute x = −z in (1) and apply a binomial coefficient identity.
Read more about this topic: Binomial Series
Famous quotes containing the words special and/or cases:
“We defy augury. Theres a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“In most cases a favorite writer is more with us in his book than he ever could have been in the flesh; since, being a writer, he is one who has studied and perfected this particular mode of personal incarnation, very likely to the detriment of any other. I should like as a matter of curiosity to see and hear for a moment the men whose works I admire; but I should hardly expect to find further intercourse particularly profitable.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (18641929)