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I have a question about a particular formula that is supposed to be used to simplify difficult summations into telescoping series. The formula is as follows.

$\sum k(k+1) = \sum \frac{1}{3} \Big(k(k+1)(k+2) - (k-1)k(k+1)\Big) $ So now here is the question. How would this be used if one were to sum $k^3$? Thank you very much in advance and I sincerely apologize for any MathJax errors in advance.

3 Answers 3

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You can usually go about it this way:

$(k+1)^4 - k^4 =4k^3+6k^2+4k+1$

Now sum from $k=1$ to $n$

$\sum_{k=1}^n (k+1)^4 - k^4 =\sum_{k=1}^n4k^3+\sum_{k=1}^n6k^2+\sum_{k=1}^n4k+\sum_{k=1}^n1$

The LHS telescopes so

$(n+1)^4-1 =\sum_{k=1}^n4k^3+\sum_{k=1}^n6k^2+\sum_{k=1}^n4k+\sum_{k=1}^n1$

We know how to compute the other sums, so you have

$(n+1)^4-1 =\sum_{k=1}^n4k^3+6 \frac{n(2n+1)(n+1)}{6}+4\frac{n(n+1)}{2}+n$

$(n+1)^4-1 =\sum_{k=1}^n4k^3+ {n(2n+1)(n+1)}+2{n(n+1)}+n$

This will ultimately give

$\frac{{{n^4} + 2{n^3} + {n^2}}}{4} = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^n {{k^3}} $

Which you can you simplify to

${\left[ {\frac{{n\left( {n + 1} \right)}}{2}} \right]^2} = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^n {{k^3}} $

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    @Astephen2 Thanks! You can accept it by clicking in the green tick, top le$f$t.2012-02-15
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We have

$k(k+1)(k+2)= \frac{1}{4}(k(k+1)(k+2)(k+3)-(k-1)k(k+1)(k+2)),$

which gives a telescoping sum to yield $\sum_{k=1}^n k(k+1)(k+2)=\frac{1}{4}n(n+1)(n+2)(n+3).$

Similarly, from the identity you wrote we get $\sum_{k=1}^n k(k+1)=\frac{1}{3}n(n+1)(n+2),$ and from the identity $k=\frac{1}{2}(k(k+1)-(k-1)k)$ we get $\sum_{k=1}^n k = \frac{1}{2}n(n+1).$

Finally, since $k^3=k(k+1)(k+2) - 3k(k+1) +k,$ you can combine these results to get

$\sum_{k=1}^n k^3 = \frac{1}{4}n(n+1)(n+2)(n+3) -3\cdot\frac{1}{3}n(n+1)(n+2)+\frac{1}{2}n(n+1).$ This can be written in a nicer form.


Here's a somewhat easier way: $k^3=(k-1)k(k+1) + k,$ so a similar telescoping yields

$\sum_{k=1}^n k^3=\frac{1}{4}(n-1)n(n+1)(n+2)+\frac{1}{2}n(n+1).$ (Of course both simplify to the same answer Peter shows.)

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Pedro Tamaroff expands the fourth power of a binomial, but there is a simpler way: only the second power of a binomial need be expanded. Let \begin{align*} A(k)&=k^2(k+1)^2\\ \Rightarrow A(k-1)&=k^2(k-1)^2\\ \Rightarrow A(k)-A(k-1)&=k^2[(k+1)^2-(k-1)^2]\\ &=k^2\left[(k^2+2k+1)-(k^2-2k+1)\right]\\ &=4k^3\\ \end{align*} Sum this last equation for $k=1,\dots,n$. Then \begin{align*} 4\sum_{k=1}^n k^3&=A(n)\\ &=n^2(n+1)^2\\ \Rightarrow \sum_{k=1}^n k^3&=\dfrac{n^2(n+1)^2}4\\ \end{align*}