The expansion of the two sides of a sum equality in terms of polynomials in 
and 
,
followed by closed form summation in terms of 
and 
. For an example of the technique, see Bloom (1995).
Snake Oil Method
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References
Bhatnagar, G. "A Multivariable View of One-Variable
-Series." In Special Functions
and Differential Equations. Proceedings of the Workshop (WSSF97) held in Madras,
January 13-24, 1997) (Ed. K. S. Rao, R. Jagannathan, G. van
den Berghe, and J. Van der Jeugt). New Delhi, India: Allied Pub., pp. 60-72,
1998.Bloom, D. M. "A Semi-Unfriendly Identity." Problem
10206. Solution by R. J. Chapman. Amer. Math. Monthly 102, 657-658,
1995.Wilf, H. S. Generatingfunctionology,
2nd ed. New York: Academic Press, 1994.Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha
Snake Oil MethodCite this as:
Weisstein, Eric W. "Snake Oil Method." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SnakeOilMethod.html