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 .
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 givesThe 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 .
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.

