Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 9 / a

The electric dipole moment is $\mathbf{p}=2aq\hat{\mathbf{z}}$. By the superposition principle, the exact electric potential isFor $a/r\ll 1$, the binomial expansion gives each reciprocal distance as $r^{-1}(1\pm (a/r)\cos \theta +O(a^2/r^2))$. The leading $1/r$ terms cancel because the total electric charge is zero. The next even terms also cancel between the two signs. ConsequentlyThis is the leading electric dipole term of the multipole expansion; it describes the far field, not the electric potential arbitrarily close to either point charge.