Probably a Constant

If n n is an integer and p p is a real number where 0 < p < 1 0<p<1 , evaluate: k = 0 n p k ( 1 p ) n k n ! k ! ( n k ) ! \sum_{k=0}^n\frac{p^k(1-p)^{n-k}n!}{k!(n-k)!}


The answer is 1.

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2 solutions

Brian Moehring
Jul 27, 2018

By rewriting and using the binomial theorem, k = 0 n p k ( 1 p ) n k n ! k ! ( n k ) ! = k = 0 n ( n k ) p k ( 1 p ) n k = ( p + ( 1 p ) ) n = 1 n = 1 \sum_{k=0}^n \frac{p^k(1-p)^{n-k}n!}{k!(n-k)!} = \sum_{k=0}^n \binom{n}{k} p^k (1-p)^{n-k} = (p + (1-p))^n = 1^n = \boxed{1}

Note: This actually holds for any real number p 0 , 1 p \neq 0,1 (and it will hold for p = 0 , 1 p=0,1 as well if we define 0 0 = 1 0^0=1 as is natural in discrete mathematics).

Samrit Pramanik
Jul 30, 2018

The summand part is the probability mass function (PMF) of Binomial Distribution with parameter n n and p p . So the sum of any PMF is 1 1 .

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