07 1-3 (b) The greatest term
Method
- Compare with using the ratio at the given numerical values.
- Solve to find the values of for which the terms are still increasing.
- The greatest term is the last one for which the ratio is greater than (or equal to) 1; if the ratio equals 1 for some , two terms are equal and both are greatest.
✍️ Worked examples
Example 17: Find the greatest term in the expansion of when and .
Solution:
- .
- The ratio is when , i.e. , i.e. .
- So in the sense that the terms increase up to (use ).
- For the ratio is below 1, so and the terms decrease after .
- The greatest term is .
Using the binomial expansion to prove relations
- Put suitable values of in to prove results such as and .
- Adding the two results gives the sum of the even-ranked combinations equal to the sum of the odd-ranked ones, each equal to .