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Mathematical Object

Pascal's Triangle

Combinatorics and Graph Theory

Pascal's triangle is an infinite triangular array of the binomial coefficients, in which each entry is the sum of the two entries directly above it and the outermost entries of every row equal 1. Long before Blaise Pascal's own 17th-century treatise gave the array its name in the West, equivalent constructions were described by the Indian mathematician Piṅgala around the 3rd to 2nd century BC, by Persian mathematicians including al-Karaji, and by the Chinese mathematician Yang Hui in the 13th century, who is still credited with it in China today. Each entry C(n, k) gives the number of ways to choose k items from a set of n, so the triangle's rows recover the coefficients of a binomial expansion and appear throughout combinatorics and probability. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Partially Attested
Origin Year
1665 1
Date is for Pascal's own treatise, the source of the array's Western name; the entity's existing description already documents earlier equivalent constructions by Pingala, al-Karaji and Yang Hui, each on its own separate timeline.
Classification
Object Kind
Sequence or Series 1
Connections

Associated With

Coloring Pascal's triangle by parity of its entries approximates the Sierpiński triangle in the limit.

Source Sierpiński Triangle (Wikipedia)

In Branch

Source Pascal's Triangle (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Pascal's Triangle (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    In mathematics, Pascal's triangle is an infinite triangular array of the binomial coefficients which play a crucial role in probability theory, combinatorics, and algebra.
  • History section
    Pascal's Traite du triangle arithmetique (Treatise on Arithmetical Triangle) was published posthumously in 1665.
  • In Branch: Combinatorics
View the Source
Sierpiński Triangle (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Sierpiński TriangleView the Source
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