Pascal and his formulas.

pascal triangle The Pascal triangle (actually known long before Pascal) is a table of the binomial coefficients where the (n, k)th entry is . Each entry is the sum of the pair immediately above it. binomial coefficient The binomial coefficients are the coefficients of powers of x in the expansion of (1 + x)n. We have where the binomial coefficient is the number of ways of choosing an (unordered) subset of size k from a set …

…of his talents. It has been suggested that it was his too concrete turn of mind that prevented his discovering the infinitesimal calculus, and in some of the Provinciales the mysterious relations of human beings with God are treated as if they were a geometrical problem. But these considerations are far outweighed by the profit that he drew from the multiplicity of his gifts, his religious writings are rigorous because of his scientific training...