Abel's binomial theorem

Abel's binomial theorem, named after Niels Henrik Abel, is a mathematical identity involving sums of binomial coefficients. It states the following:

${\displaystyle \sum _{k=0}^{m}{\binom {m}{k}}(w+m-k)^{m-k-1}(z+k)^{k}=w^{-1}(z+w+m)^{m}.}$

Example

The case m = 2

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}&{}\quad {\binom {2}{0}}(w+2)^{1}(z+0)^{0}+{\binom {2}{1}}(w+1)^{0}(z+1)^{1}+{\binom {2}{2}}(w+0)^{-1}(z+2)^{2}\\&=(w+2)+2(z+1)+{\frac {(z+2)^{2}}{w}}\\&={\frac {(z+w+2)^{2}}{w}}.\end{aligned}}}$

See also

• Binomial theorem
• Binomial type

References

• Weisstein, Eric W. "Abel's binomial theorem". MathWorld.