Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T08:09:27.783Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

More power to Pascal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Barry Lewis*
Affiliation:
Flat 1, 110 Highgate Hill, London N6 5HE, e-mail: [email protected]

Extract

Pascal’s triangle is the most famous of all number arrays - full of patterns and surprises. One surprise is the fact that lurking amongst these binomial coefficients are the triangular and pyramidal numbers of ancient Greece, the combinatorial numbers which arose in the Hindu studies of arrangements and selections, together with the Fibonacci numbers from medieval Italy. New identities continue to be discovered, so much so that their publication frequently excites no one but the discoverer.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Call, G. S. Velleman, D. J. Pascal’s matrices, Amer. Math. Monthly, 100 (4) (April 1993) pp. 372376.Google Scholar
2. Graham, R. L. Knuth, D. E. Patashnik, O. Concrete mathematics (2nd edn), Addison-Wesley (1989) pp. 364.Google Scholar
3. Allenby, R. J. B. T. Linear algebra (Modular Mathematics), Edward Arnold (1995) p. 97.Google Scholar
5. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/∼history/Biographies/Lah.htmlGoogle Scholar