[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

sum of binomials .. bug ?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg70486] sum of binomials .. bug ?
• From: yann_che2 at yahoo.fr
• Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:59:50 -0400 (EDT)

Hi everyone,

on Mathematica 5.2 (mac os x), experimenting sums of binomials, i tried
the following:

In[6]:=   f[k_] := Sum[Binomial[21 - k, i], {i, 0, 10 - k}]
In[7]:=   x = 3; f[x]
Out[7]:= 63004
In[8]:=   Clear[x] ; f[x] /. x -> 3
Out[8]:= 262144
In[9]:=   Clear[x] ; f[x]
Out[9]:= 2^(21-x)


does anyone know why Out[7] and Out[8] give different results ? do you
think it is a bug ? i searched everywhere in the forums but couldn't
find anything that helped.
do you have a clue ?

yann

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: sum of binomials .. bug ?
    • From: Devendra Kapadia <dkapadia@wolfram.com>