On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 11:47 AM, Aaron Meurer <[email protected]> wrote:
> We do have the multinomial_coefficients() function.  Is that the same
> thing as what you want?

The mutinomial function will perhaps be the key to solving the
"coefficient without expanding' problem, e.g. what is the coefficient
of `a**7*b**(6*x+2)` in `(a + b**(2*x) + a**2*b)**4`?

Ans: we want the powers i, j and k such that
`a**i*b**(2*x*j)*(a**2*b)**k == a**7*b**(6*x+2)`.
Expanding the lhs gives `a**(i + 2*k)*b**(2*j*x + k)`.
Equating with the desired coefficients gives `i+2*k == 7 and 2*j*x + k
== 6*x + 2`
Matching coefficient in the 2nd eqn gives `j = 3 and k = 2` hence `i =
3` and the coefficient must be zero since 3 + 3 + 2 > 4

But if we look for the coeff of `a**6*b**(2*x+3)` we find
`i,j,k=0,1,3` with `multinomial(0,1,3) == 4`

```
>>> powsimp(((a + b**(2*x) + a**2*b)**4).expand()).coeff(a**6*b**(2*x+3))
4
```

Are you, Kjetil, interested in implementing that?

/c

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