Nonnegative integer in the context of 3

In mathematics, a polynomial is a mathematical expression consisting of indeterminates (also called variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and exponentiation to nonnegative integer powers, and has a finite number of terms. An example of a polynomial of a single indeterminate ${\displaystyle x}$ is ${\displaystyle x^{2}-4x+7}$. An example with three indeterminates is ${\displaystyle x^{3}+2xyz^{2}-yz+1}$.

Polynomials appear in many areas of mathematics and science. For example, they are used to form polynomial equations, which encode a wide range of problems, from elementary word problems to complicated scientific problems; they are used to define polynomial functions, which appear in settings ranging from basic chemistry and physics to economics and social science; and they are used in calculus and numerical analysis to approximate other functions. In advanced mathematics, polynomials are used to construct polynomial rings and algebraic varieties, which are central concepts in algebra and algebraic geometry.

A decimal representation of a non-negative real number r is its expression as a sequence of symbols consisting of decimal digits traditionally written with a single separator: $${\displaystyle r=b_{k}b_{k-1}\cdots b_{0}.a_{1}a_{2}\cdots }$$Here . is the decimal separator, k is a nonnegative integer, and ${\displaystyle b_{0},\cdots ,b_{k},a_{1},a_{2},\cdots }$ are digits, which are symbols representing integers in the range 0, ..., 9.

Commonly, ${\displaystyle b_{k}\neq 0}$ if ${\displaystyle k\geq 1.}$ The sequence of the ${\displaystyle a_{i}}$—the digits after the dot—is generally infinite. If it is finite, the lacking digits are assumed to be 0. If all ${\displaystyle a_{i}}$ are 0, the separator is also omitted, resulting in a finite sequence of digits, which represents a natural number.

In elementary algebra, the binomial theorem (or binomial expansion) describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial. According to the theorem, the power ⁠${\displaystyle \textstyle (x+y)^{n}}$⁠ expands into a polynomial with terms of the form ⁠${\displaystyle \textstyle ax^{k}y^{m}}$⁠, where the exponents ⁠${\displaystyle k}$⁠ and ⁠${\displaystyle m}$⁠ are nonnegative integers satisfying ⁠${\displaystyle k+m=n}$⁠ and the coefficient ⁠${\displaystyle a}$⁠ of each term is a specific positive integer depending on ⁠${\displaystyle n}$⁠ and ⁠${\displaystyle k}$⁠. For example, for ⁠${\displaystyle n=4}$⁠,$${\displaystyle (x+y)^{4}=x^{4}+4x^{3}y+6x^{2}y^{2}+4xy^{3}+y^{4}.}$$

The coefficient ⁠${\displaystyle a}$⁠ in each term ⁠${\displaystyle \textstyle ax^{k}y^{m}}$⁠ is known as the binomial coefficient ⁠${\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}}$⁠ or ⁠${\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{m}}}$⁠ (the two have the same value). These coefficients for varying ⁠${\displaystyle n}$⁠ and ⁠${\displaystyle k}$⁠ can be arranged to form Pascal's triangle. These numbers also occur in combinatorics, where ⁠${\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}}$⁠ gives the number of different combinations (i.e. subsets) of ⁠${\displaystyle k}$⁠ elements that can be chosen from an ⁠${\displaystyle n}$⁠-element set. Therefore ⁠${\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}}$⁠ is usually pronounced as "⁠${\displaystyle n}$⁠ choose ⁠${\displaystyle k}$⁠".