Extending Pascal's Triangle

Extending Pascal's triangle beyond its starting point.

Have you heard of Pascal’s Triangle? If so, you’ll know that it can only be extended in a single direction: downward. However, we can use pyramids, factorials, and limits to extend Pascal’s Triangle in the opposite direction. If you haven’t heard of Pascal’s Triangle, you might enjoy this article anyway, and you’ll definitely learn something new.

What is Pascal’s Triangle?

If you already know what Pascal’s Triangle is, you can skip this section. If not, it’s a pretty simple concept to grasp and you’ll be very confused if you skip it.

When making Pascal’s Triangle, start by making a triangle with two diagonals of $1$ s. In theory, the triangle is limitless, but in practice, it would take a really long time to write that out, so I’ll only include 6 rows.

\begin{matrix} & & & & & 1 & & & & & \\ & & & & 1 & & 1 & & & & \\ & & & 1 & & & & 1 & & & \\ & & 1 & & & & & & 1 & & \\ & 1 & & & & & & & & 1 & \\ 1 & & & & & & & & & & 1 \\ \end{matrix}

For every cell not on the edge, which should all be $1$ s, add the cell to the top-left with the cell on the top-right and fill it in. Let’s start with the third row, as the first two are all $1$ s.

\begin{matrix} & & & & & 1 & & & & & \\ & & & & 1 & & 1 & & & & \\ & & & 1 & & 2 & & 1 & & & \\ & & 1 & & & & & & 1 & & \\ & 1 & & & & & & & & 1 & \\ 1 & & & & & & & & & & 1 \\ \end{matrix}

That wasn’t very difficult, right? Let’s fill in the fourth row.

\begin{matrix} & & & & & 1 & & & & & \\ & & & & 1 & & 1 & & & & \\ & & & 1 & & 2 & & 1 & & & \\ & & 1 & & 3 & & 3 & & 1 & & \\ & 1 & & & & & & & & 1 & \\ 1 & & & & & & & & & & 1 \\ \end{matrix}

I’ll skip to when all six rows are filled in.

\begin{matrix} & & & & & 1 & & & & & \\ & & & & 1 & & 1 & & & & \\ & & & 1 & & 2 & & 1 & & & \\ & & 1 & & 3 & & 3 & & 1 & & \\ & 1 & & 4 & & 6 & & 4 & & 1 & \\ 1 & & 5 & & 10 & & 10 & & 5 & & 1 \\ \end{matrix}

Cool! You now know the basics of Pascal’s Triangle.

Special conventions

For the rest of the document, I will use an alternate format to write Pascal’s triangle. The format that uses an actual triangle is difficult to type in LaTeX and hides a few patterns, so we’ll stick to a square shape. This new format provides a more compact version of the original shape, yet it keeps the original patterns. In this shape, we add the cells to the left and above a given item to get its value. Here’s an example:

\begin{matrix} 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Now that we’ve got that sorted out, let’s get on to the actual content.

All the zeroes

By the rules we’ve defined, if a cell $c$ has a value, it must be equal to the value of the cell above it, which we’ll call $a$ , plus the value of the cell to the left of it, which we’ll call $b$ .

\begin{matrix} 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & \boxed{a = 4} & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & \boxed{b = 6} & \boxed{c = 10} & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

\begin{align*} c &= a + b \\ 10 &= 6 + 4 \\ \end{align*}

By the rules of algebra and subtraction, we also have:

\begin{align*} c &= a + b \\ c - a &= b \\ c - b &= a \\ 10 - 6 &= 4 \\ 10 - 4 &= 6 \\ \end{align*}

You might be thinking, “Wow! It’s pretty cool that you can subtract numbers. But why are we doing this?” And I know. Subtraction is pretty amazing, but we can actually use it to discover more of Pascal’s Triangle. Let’s look at the first row. I’ll highlight two of the $1$ s in the top row.

\begin{matrix} \boxed{b = 1} & \boxed{c = 1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

By using our formula $a = c - b$ , we can find a value for the cell above $c$ !

\begin{matrix} & 0 & & & & & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

We can also do this for every value to the right of $c$ , and we’ll get a $0$ every time.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Of course, similar logic applies to the left side of the matrix. However, in the interest of not making wide images that require horizontal scrolling on mobile devices (since that is a horrible experience), we’re only going to focus on the top for now.

Now that we’ve added a new top row, we can use the subtraction rule again and find even more zeroes! Isn’t this exciting?

\begin{matrix} & & & & & & & & \dots \\ & & & & & & & 0 & \dots \\ & & & & & & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & & & & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & & & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \dots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

We’ve found everything that we can do with simple subtraction. However, there’s one last trick we can use before we have to use complex math.

Symmetry

Before we get onto more math, I’d like to introduce a new syntax we’ll use to identify elements of Pascal’s Triangle based on their row and column numbers. Currently, we know that the triangle extends in all directions, so our numbers will have to make use of negatives. Let’s name the top-left $1$ as being in the $0$ th row and $0$ th column.

\begin{matrix} & & & & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \\ & & & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \dots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Now we can name the value of a given element as $P_{a,b}$ , where $a$ is the row number and $b$ is the column number. For example, $P_{2,4} = 15$ because the cell in the 2nd row and 4th column has a $15$ in it. Notice that we’re calling the rows and columns that read $1, 1, 1, 1, \dots$ the zeroth rows and columns. We do this because they provide a good splitting point between the sections with whole numbers and the sections with zeroes.

Now that we have this syntax nailed down, you’ll start to notice some patterns. Namely, for any values of $a$ and $b$ , $P_{a,b} = P_{b,a}$ . That may look weird, but it essentially means that the table is symmetric across the top-left to bottom-right diagonal. And it’s correct! If you look at the square, you’ll quickly see that it’s completely symmetrical across the diagonal. The only values that aren’t repeated are $2$ , $6$ , $20$ , $70$ , and $252$ , because they are directly on the diagonal.

\begin{matrix} & & & & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \\ & & & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 3 & 6 & \boxed{10} & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 4 & \boxed{10} & 20 & 35 & \boxed{56} & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 6 & 21 & \boxed{56} & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \dots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Knowing this, we can guess that the values of $P_{-1,0}$ and $P_{0,-1}$ will be equal, so let’s set them both to $x$ .

\begin{matrix} & & & & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \\ & & \boxed{x} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & \boxed{x} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \dots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Of course, our rule tells us that adding these must be equal to $1$ , the cell directly to the right and below the cells with a value of $x$ . Since we know that, we can do some basic algebra and solve for $x$ :

\begin{align*} x + x &= 1 \\ 2x &= 1 \\ x &= \frac{1}{2} \\ x &= 0.5 \\ \end{align*}

Great! Let’s fill that in our table.

\begin{matrix} & & & & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \\ & & 0.5 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & 0.5 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \dots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

We can use the subtraction method and get another section of numbers for free above the vast sections of zeroes. Let’s do that quickly.

\begin{matrix} & & & & & & & -0.5 & \dots \\ & & & & & & 0.5 & 0 & \dots \\ & & & & & -0.5 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & & & 0.5 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & & -0.5 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & & 0.5 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ & 0.5 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ \dots & 0 & 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \dots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

This is the furthest that basic addition, subtraction, and symmetry will guide us. From now on, we’ll need to resort to more advanced methods to compute the numbers. However, don’t let this deter you! We’re going to find a beautiful formula for the elements of Pascal’s Triangle and use it to solve for the rest of the table. The “advanced methods” we’re going to use actually aren’t that advanced; it’s just basic multiplication.

Summation notation

Actually, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

First, take a look at the following series, known as the triangular numbers.

1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, \dots

There’s a simple rule that governs the sequence. To find it, I’ll rewrite the sequence using sums.

\begin{align*} 1 &= 1 \\ 3 &= 1 + 2 \\ 6 &= 1 + 2 + 3 \\ 10 &= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 \\ 15 &= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 \\ 21 &= \dots \\ \end{align*}

Now do you notice the pattern? That’s right: you just add the next natural number to find the next term of the sequence. Can you guess the number after $28$ ? That’s right: it’s $36$ , or $28 + 8$ .

We can express this sequence by using something known as summation notation, or sigma ( $\Sigma$ ) notation. Here’s an example:

\sum_{n = 1}^4{n}

That may look confusing, but it’s essentially saying, “For every number $n$ from $1$ to $4$ (inclusive), evaluate $n$ and add the results,” which is $1 + 2 + 3 + 4$ , or $10$ .

Here’s a more complex example:

\sum_{n = 1}^6{n^2}

This has a similar meaning: “For every number $n$ from $1$ to $6$ (inclusive), evaluate $n^2$ and add the results,” which is $1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2 + 6^2$ , or $91$ .

Summation notation is very useful when dealing with triangular numbers, as we can express the $n$ th triangular number as

\sum_{i = 1}^n{i}

In fact, this sum is equal to

\frac{n(n + 1)}{2}

Why? Well, let’s imagine creating the $4$ th triangular number out of blocks.

4 \underbrace{ \begin{cases} \begin{matrix} ∙ & & & \\ ∙ & ∙ & & \\ ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & \\ ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ \\ \end{matrix} \end{cases} }_{4}

This almost looks like a rectangle, just with the right side missing. Let’s take our triangle, rotate it 180 degrees, and put it on the right.

4 \underbrace{ \begin{cases} \begin{matrix} ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ \\ ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ \\ ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ \\ ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ & ∙ \\ \end{matrix} \end{cases} }_{5}

Look! We now have a 4 by 5 rectangle of blocks, and we can find its area just by multiplying $4 \cdot 5$ , for a total of $20$ . We already know that we have two triangles in the rectangle, so we can just divide $20 \div 2$ and get $10$ , which is the $4$ th triangular number.

This reasoning works for any number $n$ . We make a triangle with two sides of length $n$ , rotate it 180 degrees to make a rectangle of $n \times n + 1$ dimensions, find the area of $n(n + 1)$ , and divide by $2$ to get the final result of $\frac{n \cdot (n + 1)}{2}$ .

Thus, we now know that

\sum_{i = 1}^n{i} = \frac{n \cdot (n + 1)}{2}

Product notation

While many people have heard of summation notation, not nearly as many know of product notation. It works similarly to summation notation, but we use a capital pi ( $\Pi$ ) instead of a capital sigma ( $\Sigma$ ), and we multiply the results instead of adding them.

Here’s an example.

\prod_{i = 1}^4{i} = 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 = 24

One commonly known example of product notation is the factorial function. It multiplies every number from $1$ up to a specific whole number and is represented by putting an exclamation mark ( $!$ ) after a number or expression. For example:

7! = \prod_{i = 1}^7{i} = 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5 \cdot 6 \cdot 7 = 5040

Try evaluating 5! on your own. Click this dropdown to find the answer.

5! = \prod_{i = 1}^5{i} = 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5 = 120

One useful fact about factorials is that for any number $n$ ,

(n - 1)! \cdot n = n!

Here’s an example.

\begin{align*} (4 - 1)! \cdot 4 &= 4! \\ 3! \cdot 4 &= 4! \\ 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 &= 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \\ \end{align*}

We’ll be using factorials later, so be on the lookout for them. Here are the first few factorials so that you can recognize them later.

1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, \dots

The first column

Since we have no clue how to approach the entire triangle, let’s start by looking for a formula for each column. First, I’ll copy and paste Pascal’s triangle here as a reference.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

For now, we’re only going to focus on finding cells whose row and column numbers are both positive or zero. A formula for the first column is easy, as the numbers in the column, by definition, are all $1$ .

P_{x,1} = 1

The second column seems to be the natural numbers, but let’s see if we can express more rigorously why that happens. We know that each cell is equal to the value of the cell above it added to the value of the cell to the left of it. But the cell above it has the value of the cell above it plus the value of the cell to the left of it, and so on. Basically,

P_{x,2} = P_{x,1} + P_{(x - 1),1} + P_{(x - 2),1} + \dots + P_{0,1}

Let’s show a specific example. I’ll highlight a specific cell in the triangle.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{4} & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Now I’ll highlight the cells that add to $4$ .

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{3} & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

The $1$ on the left ends its “branch” of the addition. However, the $3$ can be expanded further.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{2} & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

The $2$ can still be expanded.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Technically, the top $1$ ends the sequence, but for convenience we’ll represent it as $1 + 0$ . It doesn’t change anything, because $1 + 0 = 1$ , but it helps with the math.

\begin{matrix} & \boxed{0} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Of course, we don’t even need to highlight $0$ , because adding $0$ to a sum doesn’t change the result.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ \boxed{1} & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Because of the process we used, we know that we just have to add up all of these values to get the final value of $4$ . And guess what’s good at summing values? That’s right: our old friend $\sum$ . We’ll represent each term using $P_{row,column}$ notation, so check back to that section if you forget what it is. Without further ado, here is our formula for the 1st column.

P_{x,1} = \sum_{i = 0}^x{P_{i,0}}

Let’s try it on the 4th row of the 1st column. We already know that we should get $5$ .

\begin{matrix} 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{5} & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Let’s run the algebra machine:

\begin{align*} P_{4,1} &= \sum_{i = 0}^4{P_{i,0}} \\ &= P_{0,0} + P_{1,0} + P_{2,0} + P_{3,0} + P_{4,0} \\ &= 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 \\ &= 5 \cdot 1 \\ &= 5 \end{align*}

We can see that we just get the row number plus 1, or $x + 1$ for a generic row $x$ in the 1st column.

\begin{align*} P_{x,1} &= \sum_{i = 0}^x{P_{i,0}} \\ &= x + 1 \end{align*}

The second column

Great! Now let’s find a formula for the second column. We’re going to use the same summation trick as earlier. To show why it still works, I’m going to highlight a cell in the 2nd column.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & \boxed{10} & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Now I’ll highlight the things that make up the cell of $10$ , namely, $4$ and $6$ .

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & \boxed{6} & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{4} & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

I’ll do the same for $6$ …

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & \boxed{3} & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{3} & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{4} & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

And $3$ …

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{2} & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{3} & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{4} & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

And finally $1$ .

\begin{matrix} & 0 & \boxed{0} & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{2} & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{3} & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{4} & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Of course, we can ignore the $0$ .

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{2} & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{3} & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & \boxed{4} & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

And yet again, we have shown that we can just add up the values in the previous column, so we can write down a formula for the second column. This will be very similar to the formula for the first column, but with $2$ and $1$ instead of $1$ and $0$ .

P_{x,2} = \sum_{i = 0}^x{P_{i,1}}

Let’s plug in the value of $P_{i,1}$ .

P_{x,2} = \sum_{i = 0}^x{(i + 1)}

It looks like we’re stuck, but we can use a clever trick. Instead of adding one to each value of $i$ , let’s just increase the lower and upper bounds by $1$ , effectively doing the same thing.

P_{x,2} = \sum_{i = 1}^{x+1}{i}

But wait! We already know how to sum up these numbers; it’s just the triangular number formula.

P_{x,2} = \frac{(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2)}{2}

You may notice we’re writing $(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2)$ instead of $x \cdot (x + 1)$ . That’s because we’re finding the $x + 1$ th triangular number, not the $x$ th, so we need to increase everything by $1$ .

Let’s try our formula by plugging in $x = 5$ .

\begin{align*} P_{5,2} &= \frac{(5 + 1) \cdot (5 + 2)}{2} \\ &= \frac{6 \cdot 7}{2} \\ &= \frac{42}{2} \\ &= 21 \end{align*}

And let’s look at Pascal’s Triangle.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & \boxed{21} & 56 & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

Wow! Our formula works properly.

The rest of the columns

Before we can evaluated the third column, you need to know that for any whole number $n$ ,

\begin{align*} \sum_{i = 1}^n \sum_{j = 1}^i j &= \frac{n \cdot (n + 1) \cdot (n + 2)}{6} \\ \sum_{i = 1}^n \frac{i \cdot (i + 1)}{2} &= \frac{n \cdot (n + 1) \cdot (n + 2)}{6} \\ \end{align*}

Why? We can use a similar geometric proof to what we did with the triangular numbers, this time with a rectangular prism of side lengths $n$ , $n + 1$ , and $n + 2$ , but it’s difficult to put into an image, so you’ll have to take my word for it. If you want, prove it on your own at home.

By the way, this formula generates a sequence known as the tetrahedral numbers. Just thought you should know.

Now we can start on a formula for the third column.

\begin{align*} P_{x,3} &= \sum_{i = 0}^x{P_{i,2}} \\ P_{x,3} &= \sum_{i = 0}^x \frac{(i + 1) \cdot (i + 2)}{2} \\ \end{align*}

But wait! This looks exactly like the formula we found above, just with $i + 1$ instead of $i$ . Thus, we find that

P_{x,3} = \frac{(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2) \cdot (x + 3)}{6}

We can test this formula by plugging in $5$ , for the fifth row and third column.

\begin{align*} P_{x,3} &= \frac{(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2) \cdot (x + 3)}{6} \\ P_{5,3} &= \frac{(5 + 1) \cdot (5 + 2) \cdot (5 + 3)}{6} \\ &= \frac{6 \cdot 7 \cdot 8}{6} \\ &= \frac{\cancel{6} \cdot 7 \cdot 8}{\cancel{6}} \\ &= 7 \cdot 8 \\ &= 56 \\ \end{align*}

And let’s check Pascal’s Triangle, just in case.

\begin{matrix} & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & \boxed{56} & 126 & 252 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

It looks like our results match.

Using similar logic to the above, we can find the formula for the fourth column.

P_{x,4} = \frac{(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2) \cdot (x + 3) \cdot (x + 4)}{24}

Or the fifth.

P_{x,5} = \frac{(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2) \cdot (x + 3) \cdot (x + 4) \cdot (x + 5)}{120}

Everything about this formula seems reasonable except the denominators. They seem to change randomly from column to column. I’ll list the first few for convenience.

2, 6, 24, 120, \dots

Wait. Do you recognize those numbers from somewhere? Because I sure do. They’re the first few factorial numbers!

In fact, this is a provable pattern. We can go on and on for as many columns as we like and prove that the denominators follow this sequence. In fact, even the first column, for which we thought the formula was $x + 1$ , could really be represented as $\frac{x + 1}{1}$ , where $1$ is the first factorial number!

We’re not going to prove it here, as it takes too long, and frankly, I have no idea how to do it.

A formula for all cells

We can use the pattern from the previous section to deduce that for any row $x$ and column $y$ ,

P_{x,y} = \frac{(x + 1) \cdot (x + 2) \cdot \dots \cdot (x + (y - 1)) \cdot (x + y)}{y!}

And here we have an opportunity to use the product notation that we learned about so long ago!

\begin{align*} P_{x,y} &= \frac{\prod_{i = 1}^y{(x + i)}}{y!} \\ &= \frac{1}{y!} \cdot \prod_{i = 1}^y{(x + i)} \\ \end{align*}

We can reduce the complexity of the $\prod$ symbol by adding $x$ to the bounds and removing it from the expression.

P_{x,y} = \frac{1}{y!} \cdot \prod_{i = 1 + x}^{y + x}{i}

Remember that a simple product like this is basically a factorial. There’s one problem, however: the lower bound starts at $1 + x$ , not $1$ . We can remedy this by changing the lower bound to $1$ and dividing by $\prod_{i = 1}^{x}{i}$ .

P_{x,y} = \frac{1}{y!} \cdot \frac{ \prod_{i = 1}^{y + x}{i} }{ \prod_{i = 1}^{x}{i} }

And of course, we can change both of these into factorials.

P_{x,y} = \frac{1}{y!} \cdot \frac{(x + y)!}{x!}

Let’s multiply these into a single fraction.

P_{x,y} = \frac{(x + y)!}{x! \cdot y!}

And we’re done! We finally have a formula that works for any cell. Before we get too much confidence, however, let’s test our formula. Let’s find the cell in the fourth row and sixth column.

\begin{align*} P_{x,y} &= \frac{(x + y)!}{x! \cdot y!} \\ P_{4,6} &= \frac{10!}{4! \cdot 6!} \\ &= \frac {1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5 \cdot 6 \cdot 7 \cdot 8 \cdot 9 \cdot 10} {1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5 \cdot 6} \\ &= \frac {\cancel{2} \cdot \cancel{3} \cdot \cancel{4} \cdot \cancel{5} \cdot \cancel{6} \cdot 7 \cdot 8 \cdot 9 \cdot 10} {\cancel{2} \cdot \cancel{3} \cdot \cancel{4} \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot \cancel{5} \cdot \cancel{6}} \\ &= \frac{7 \cdot 8 \cdot 9 \cdot 10}{2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4} \\ &= \frac{7 \cdot 9 \cdot 10}{3} \\ &= 7 \cdot 3 \cdot 10 \\ &= 210 \\ \end{align*}

Or you could just punch 10! / (4! * 6!) into a calculator.

Anyway, let’s check Pascal’s Triangle for the result. I’ll need to add a column to see the result.

\begin{matrix} 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \dots \\ 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & \dots \\ 1 & 3 & 6 & 10 & 15 & 21 & 28 & \dots \\ 1 & 4 & 10 & 20 & 35 & 56 & 84 & \dots \\ 1 & 5 & 15 & 35 & 70 & 126 & \boxed{210} & \dots \\ 1 & 6 & 21 & 56 & 126 & 252 & 462 & \dots \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots \\ \end{matrix}

It looks like our formula works!

The formula provides a very simple explanation for the symmetry we see in Pascal’s Triangle. Notice how all the operations in the expression $\frac{(x + y)!}{x! \cdot y!}$ all commutative. We can switch $x + y$ to $y + x$ and flip the order of the factorials in the denominator from $x! \cdot y!$ to $y! \cdot x!$ . However, none of these operations change the result of the expression, giving Pascal’s Triangle its mirrored structure.

You might ask, “Doesn’t this break for the rows and columns of $1$ s? We’d have to evaluate $0!$ , but you can’t multiply zero numbers together.” And you have a valid point. However, mathematicians have decided that, yes, it does make sense to multiply zero numbers together, and that the result is $1$ . Thus, $0! = 1$ , and we can evaluate the formula for those numbers and get the reasonable answer of $1$ if $x = 0$ or $y = 0$ .

We can also prove that this formula obeys the law that $P_{a-1,b} + P_{a,b-1} = P_{a,b}$ . If you want to skip this part, you can go to the section titled Introducing the gamma function.

First, let’s represent the equation above using our formulas.

\begin{align*} P_{a-1,b} + P_{a,b-1} &= P_{a,b} \\ \frac{(a - 1 + b)!}{(a - 1)! \cdot b!} + \frac{(a + b - 1)!}{a! \cdot (b - 1)!} &= \frac{(a + b)!}{a! \cdot b!} \\ \end{align*}

Let’s multiply the first fraction by $\frac{a}{a}$ and the second by $\frac{b}{b}$ . Both of these are equal to $1$ , so this is allowed.

\frac{a \cdot (a - 1 + b)!}{a \cdot (a - 1)! \cdot b!} + \frac{b \cdot (a + b - 1)!}{a! \cdot b \cdot (b - 1)!} = \frac{(a + b)!}{a! \cdot b!}

But wait! We know that $n \cdot (n - 1)!$ is equal to $n!$ , so we can replace $a \cdot (a - 1)!$ and $b \cdot (b - 1)!$ with $a!$ and $b!$ .

\frac{a \cdot (a - 1 + b)!}{a! \cdot b!} + \frac{b \cdot (a + b - 1)!}{a! \cdot b!} = \frac{(a + b)!}{a! \cdot b!}