Take a different real matrix,
Its only eigenvalue is , with algebraic multiplicity two. However, the polynomial , which vanishes at that eigenvalue, gives . Merely checking values at eigenvalues cannot prove a matrix identity. The full characteristic polynomial does work:
The matrix is a Jordan block, and its minimal polynomial is also .
The binomial theorem gives, for positive integers ,
Terms containing or a higher matrix power vanish. After removing the common growth factor , the remaining linear map is the shear mapping . It moves to . The single eigenvalue controls the exponential scale, while the nilpotent matrix adds a factor growing linearly in .
Figure 1.
Normalized powers of a Jordan block retain a growing shear despite having only one eigenvalue; equal axes scales show the top edge moving by n/2
. Details.
In terms of polynomial interpolation, reduction modulo retains both a value and a derivative:
Indeed, polynomial division gives . This is a simple Hermite interpolation condition. For , it gives exactly the displayed matrix power. Repeated eigenvalues retain information about how a polynomial changes, not just where it vanishes.
Single parity-check code 2026-10-14
The code consisting of all even-weight binary words. For its dimension is , and its weight enumerator is , by selecting the even terms of the binomial theorem. The length-one code contains only zero.
Let be independent random variables, each with the Bernoulli distribution of parameter , and let . Multiplying their characteristic functions and expanding by the binomial theorem gives
The coefficients are exactly the probability mass function of the binomial distribution with parameters : the sum takes with probabilities . Direct outcome counting verifies them: an outcome with ones has probability , and there are such outcomes. The coefficients sum to one, recovering .
At , . This is also : the complex exponential now records parity. The moments agree by two routes: linearity of expectation gives , while the variance of a sum of independent random variables gives . Summing gives the second moment , also recovered as .
Figure 1.
Independent products and the different limits of averages and variance-normalized sign sums
. Top: exact real parts and imaginary parts of and its cube, the characteristic function of the three-variable binomial distribution. Bottom: for independent symmetric signs, approaches one under averaging, whereas approaches under variance normalization. All curves are exact model formulas; the finite curves illustrate the two limits rather than proving a general central limit theorem. Details.
Truncated lognormal moment Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-25
If with , and having the standard normal distribution, then for every real ,
Here is the standard normal distribution function. Multiplying the normal distribution density by and completing the square shifts its mean by and supplies the factor ; this is a Gaussian exponential tilt. Integrating above or below the shifted threshold proves both formulas. They apply to noninteger and negative powers, including the inverse-price moment . The lower-tail formula gives the European power put formula after a binomial theorem expansion.
Unitriangular matrix power formula Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For a three-dimensional strictly upper triangular matrix , the binomial theorem stops after . Over a finite field of odd prime characteristic , both coefficients and vanish, so every nonidentity matrix in has order . In characteristic two, a matrix with nonzero instead has order four.