The binomial series
Problem 7.590 · medium
Find the first five terms of the binomial series for \( \displaystyle \left(4 x + 1\right)^{\frac{2}{3}} \).
- (1 + u)ʳ = 1 + ru + r(r − 1)/2! u² + r(r − 1)(r − 2)/3! u³ + ⋯ with r = 2/3 and u = 4*x.
- \[ \frac{2 \cdot 4^{2} \left(-1 + \frac{2}{3}\right)}{2 \cdot 3} = - \frac{16}{9} \]The x² coefficient, r(r − 1)/2 · c².✓ Proved
- \[ \lim_{x \to 0}\left(\frac{\frac{1792 x^{4}}{243} - \frac{256 x^{3}}{81} + \frac{16 x^{2}}{9} - \frac{8 x}{3} + \left(4 x + 1\right)^{\frac{2}{3}} - 1}{x^{4}}\right) = 0 \]These terms agree with the function to order x⁴.✓ Proved
Answer \( - \frac{1792 x^{4}}{243} + \frac{256 x^{3}}{81} - \frac{16 x^{2}}{9} + \frac{8 x}{3} + 1 + \cdots \)
Lines: 2 proved, 1 not checked. The answer was also checked a second way, without looking at the solution. The reviewers disagree about how one step is explained; every verdict is in the receipt. How we verify
The full receipt
| Line | Status | Checked by | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Not checked | — | a sentence; read, not computed |
| 2 | ✓ Proved | sympy 1.14.0 | simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0 |
| 3 | ✓ Proved | sympy 1.14.0 | simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0 |
| answer, a second way | ✓ Checked independently | sympy 1.14.0 + mpmath 1.3.0 | f minus the polynomial at x = 0.01 and 0.001 |
Reviewers
gpt-oss:20b: passqwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) — The solution fails to explicitly calculate or state the coefficients for the x^3 and x^4 terms, which are required to list the 'first five terms'. It only verifies the x^2 coefficient and the overall agreement via a limit, leaving the student without the derivation of the missing terms.
Every verdict on record (6)
qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) 2026-10-17 — The solution fails to explicitly calculate or state the coefficients for the x^3 and x^4 terms, which are required to list the 'first five terms'. It only verifies the x^2 coefficient and the overall agreement via a limit, leaving the student without the derivation of the missing terms.gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-10-17qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass 2026-10-15 — The solution correctly identifies the binomial series formula and the substitution u=4x. The algebraic checks confirm the coefficients match the stated answer.gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-10-15qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) 2026-10-14 — The solution fails to state the radius of convergence, which is a critical part of defining a binomial series. Additionally, the setup does not explicitly verify that |4x| < 1, which is required for the series expansion to be valid.gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-10-14
Proved: SymPy reduced the difference between the two sides to zero. Checked independently: a separate
method, named above, confirmed it. Checked numerically: the two sides agree at every sampled point, which is evidence,
not proof. Reviewed: a model or a person read it; that is all a sentence can have. Solution by
generator:structured/binomial_series, checked 2026-10-17 with SymPy 1.14.0.