Deriving the PGF for Binomial Distribution using Combinations

Darth Frodo
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Homework Statement



I'm trying to derive the PGF for the Binomial.


The Attempt at a Solution



I have it whittled down to \sum^{n}_{x=0}(nCx)(\frac{sp}{1-p})^x

I just don't know how to simplify this further. Any help is most appreciated.
 
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I think you lost some ##(1 - p)##s there, are you sure you didn't mean ##\sum_{x = 0}^n \binom{n}{x} (sp)^x (1 - p)^{n - x}##?

The result should follow from the binomial theorem,
$$ (x + y )^n = \sum_{k = 0}^n \binom{n}{k} x^{n-k} y^k. $$
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...

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