Three types of
matrices can be obtained by writing Pascal's triangle
as a lower triangular matrix and truncating
appropriately: a symmetric matrix
with
, a lower
triangular matrix
with
,
and an upper triangular matrix
with
, where
, 1, ...,
. For example, for
, these would be given by
(1)
| |||
(2)
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(3)
|
The Pascal -matrix
or order
is implemented in the Wolfram Language
as LinearAlgebra`PascalMatrix[n].
These matrices have some amazing properties. In particular, their determinants are all equal to 1
(4)
|
and
(5)
|
(Edelman and Strang).
Edelman and Strang give four proofs of the identity (5), the most straightforward of which is
(6)
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(7)
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(8)
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(9)
|
where Einstein summation has been used.