Pascal's simplex

In mathematics, Pascal's simplex is a generalisation of Pascal's triangle into arbitrary number of dimensions, based on the multinomial theorem.

Contents

Induction of Pascal's simplices

Each Pascal's m-simplex is a semi-infinite object, which consists of a semi-infinite series (n ≥ 0) of finite (m − 1)-simplices, where m is the number of terms of a polynomial and n is a power the polynomial is raised to.

Let \wedge^m be a semi-infinite Pascal's m-simplex and its nth component \wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n, a finite (m − 1)-simplex with edge length n.

Pascal's 1-simplex

\wedge^1_n = \vartriangle^0_n (a point) is the coefficient of multinomial expansion of a polynomial with 1 term raised to the power of n:

(x_1)^n = \sum_{k_1=n} {n \choose k_1} x_1^{k_1};\ \ k_1, n \in \mathbb{N}_0

Arrangement of \vartriangle^0_n:

\textstyle {n \choose n}

which equals 1 for all n.

Pascal's 2-simplex

\wedge^2 is known as Pascal's triangle.

\wedge^2_n = \vartriangle^1_n (a line) consists of the coefficients of binomial expansion of a polynomial with 2 terms raised to the power of n:

(x_1 %2B x_2)^n = \sum_{k_1%2Bk_2=n} {n \choose k_1, k_2} x_1^{k_1} x_2^{k_2};\ \ k_1, k_2, n \in \mathbb{N}_0

Arrangement of \vartriangle^1_n:

\textstyle {n \choose n, 0}, {n \choose n - 1, 1}, \cdots, {n \choose 1, n - 1}, {n \choose 0, n}

(sequence A007318 in OEIS)

Pascal's 3-simplex

\wedge^3 is known as Pascal's tetrahedron.

\wedge^3_n = \vartriangle^2_n (a triangle) consists of the coefficients of trinomial expansion of a polynomial with 3 terms raised to the power of n:

(x_1 %2B x_2 %2B x_3)^n = \sum_{k_1%2Bk_2%2Bk_3=n} {n \choose k_1, k_2, k_3} x_1^{k_1} x_2^{k_2} x_3^{k_3};\ \ k_1, k_2, k_3, n \in \mathbb{N}_0

Arrangement of \vartriangle^2_n:

\begin{align} \textstyle {n \choose n, 0, 0} &, \textstyle {n \choose n - 1, 1, 0}, \cdots\cdots\cdots\cdots, {n \choose 1, n - 1, 0}, {n \choose 0, n, 0}\\ \textstyle {n \choose n - 1, 0, 1} &, \textstyle {n \choose n - 2, 1, 1}, \cdots, {n \choose 1, n - 2, 1}, {n \choose 0, n - 1, 1}\\ &\vdots\\ \textstyle {n \choose 1, 0, n - 1} &, \textstyle {n \choose 0, 1, n - 1}\\ \textstyle {n \choose 0, 0, n} \end{align}

(sequence A046816 in OEIS)

Pascal's m-simplex

\wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n consists of the coefficients of multinomial expansion of a polynomial with m terms raised to the power of n:

\left(\sum_{i=1}^{m}{x_i}\right)^n = \sum_{\sum_{i=1}^{m}{k_i}=n} {\binom{n}{k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_m} \prod_{i=1}^{m}{x_i^{k_i}}};\ \ k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_m,n \in \mathbb{N}_0;\ \ i,m \in \mathbb{N}

Example for m = 4 (sequence A189225 in OEIS)

Components of Pascal's simplices

Inheritance of components

\wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n is numericaly equal to each (m − 1)-face (there is m + 1 of them) of \wedge^{m%2B1}_n = \vartriangle^m_n, or:

\wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n \subset \wedge^{m%2B1}_n = \vartriangle^m_n

From this follows, that the whole \wedge^m is (m + 1)-times included in \wedge^{m%2B1}, or:

\wedge^m \subset \wedge^{m%2B1}

Example

          \wedge^1       \wedge^2       \wedge^3       \wedge^4

\vartriangle^m_0     1          1          1          1

\vartriangle^m_1     1         1 1        1 1        1 1  1
                              1          1

\vartriangle^m_2     1        1 2 1      1 2 1      1 2 1  2 2  1
                             2 2        2 2    2
                              1          1

\vartriangle^m_3     1       1 3 3 1    1 3 3 1    1 3 3 1  3 6 3  3 3  1
                            3 6 3      3 6 3    6 6    3
                             3 3        3 3      3
                              1          1

For more terms in the above array refer to (sequence A191358 in OEIS)

Equality of sub-faces

Conversely, \wedge^{m%2B1}_n = \vartriangle^m_n is (m + 1)-times bounded by \wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n, or:

\wedge^{m%2B1}_n = \vartriangle^m_n \supset \wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n

From this follows, that for given n, all i-faces are numericaly equal in nth components of all Pascal's (m > i)-simplices, or:

\wedge^{i%2B1}_n = \vartriangle^i_n \subset \wedge^{m>i%2B1}_n = \vartriangle^{m>i}_n

Example

The 3rd component (2-simplex) of Pascal's 3-simplex is bounded by 3 equal 1-faces (lines). Each 1-face (line) is bounded by 2 equal 0-faces (vertices):

2-simplex   1-faces of 2-simplex         0-faces of 1-face

 1 3 3 1    1 . . .  . . . 1  1 3 3 1    1 . . .   . . . 1
  3 6 3      3 . .    . . 3    . . .
   3 3        3 .      . 3      . .
    1          1        1        .

Also, for all m and all n:

1 = \wedge^1_n = \vartriangle^0_n \subset \wedge^m_n = \vartriangle^{m-1}_n

Number of coefficients

For the nth component ((m − 1)-simplex) of Pascal's m-simplex, the number of the coefficients of multinomial expansion it consists of is given by:

{(n-1) %2B (m-1) \choose (m-1)} %2B {n %2B (m - 2) \choose (m - 2)} = {n %2B (m - 1) \choose (m - 1)},

that is, either by a sum of the number of coefficients of an (n − 1)th component ((m − 1)-simplex) of Pascal's m-simplex with the number of coefficients of an nth component ((m − 2)-simplex) of Pascal's (m − 1)-simplex, or by a number of all possible partitions of an nth power among m exponents.

Example

Number of coefficients of nth component ((m − 1)-simplex) of Pascal's m-simplex
m-simplex nth component n = 0 n = 1 n = 2 n = 3 n = 4 n = 5
1-simplex 0-simplex 1 1 1 1 1 1
2-simplex 1-simplex 1 2 3 4 5 6
3-simplex 2-simplex 1 3 6 10 15 21
4-simplex 3-simplex 1 4 10 20 35 56
5-simplex 4-simplex 1 5 15 35 70 126
6-simplex 5-simplex 1 6 21 56 126 252

Interestingly, the terms of this table comprise a Pascal triangle in the format of a symmetric Pascal matrix.

Symmetry

(An nth component ((m − 1)-simplex) of Pascal's m-simplex has the (m!)-fold spatial symmetry.)

Geometry

(Orthogonal axes k_1 ... k_m in m-dimensional space, vertices of component at n on each axe, the tip at [0,...,0] for n=0.)

Numeric construction

(Wrapped n-th power of a big number gives instantly the n-th component of a Pascal's simplex.)