A monomial term in the variables is square-free if are distinct. (A constant term such as 1 is considered square-free.) What is the sum of the coefficients of the squarefree terms in the following product?
Solution
Let be the sum of the coefficients of the square-terms in the product ). Square-free terms in this product come in two types: either they include , or they do not. The sum of the coefficients of the terms that include is , since we can choose any of the other variables to be paired with , and then choose any square-free term from the product taken over the other variables. The sum of the coefficients of the terms that do not include are , because they all come from the product over the other variables. Therefore, . We use this recursion to find . As base cases, and are both 1. Then , , and finally, .
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