# Some interesting quotes

You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length.  —C. F. Gauss

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.  —R. Feynman

# The q-binomial coefficients and their interpretations

A q-derivative is a discrete version of the usual derivative, defined by the formula
$D_q f(x) = \frac{f(qx) - f(x)} {qx - x}.$

This motivates a “quantum calculus” that appears in several branches of mathematics (mainly in number theory and in the theory of quantum groups).

Here, we present the basic q-deformed structures (q-derivative, q-integers, q-binomial coefficients), the basic theorem on Taylor series expansions and two “q-versions” of the binomial theorem.

The q-binomial coefficients ${n \brack k }$ have two combinatorial interpretations:
(1) it counts the number of paths from (0,0) to (k,n-k) that encircle a prescribed area A (with respect to the axes $x=k$ and $y=0$), for every A (like a generating function);

(2) the number of subspaces of dimension $k$ in certain finite vector spaces: $\mathbb{F}_q^n$.

Finally, we point to some open questions concerning the construction of a $\mathbb F_1$.