<s>[INST] Sum of First $n$ Squares Equals $\frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}$ I am just starting into calculus and I have a question about the following statement I encountered while learning about definite integrals:
$$\sum_{k=1}^n k^2 = \frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}$$
I really have no idea why this statement is true. Can someone please explain why this is true and if possible show how to arrive at one given the other?
 [/INST] Another way (by Euler, I think), starting from the geometric sum:
$$1 + x + x^2 + \cdots + x^n = \frac{x^{n+1}-1}{x-1} \tag{1}$$
Differentiate both sides:
$$1 + 2 x + 3 x^2 + \cdots + n x^{n-1} = \frac{n x^{n+1}-(n+1) x^{n} +1}{(x-1)^2} \tag{2}$$
Multiply by $x$ and differentiate once more. We get on the LHS
$$1 + 2^2 x + 3^2 x^2 + \cdots + n^2 x^{n-1} \tag{3}$$
which, evaluated at $x=1$ gives our desired sum $\sum_{k=1}^n k^2$. Hence, we just need to multiply by $x$ the RHS of $(2)$, compute the  (eg, with L'Hopital rule) and evaluate it at $x \to 1$.
It should be evident that this procedure also can be applied (though it also turns more cumbersome) for sums of higher powers.

(Update) here's a concrete computation, applying the binomial theorem on the RHS of $(1)$ and doing a series expansion around $x=1$. Let
$$\begin{align}
g(x)&=\frac{x^{n+1}-1}{x-1}\\
&=\frac{\left(1+(x-1)\right)^{n+1}-1}{x-1}\\
&={n+1 \choose 1}+{n+1 \choose 2}(x-1)+{n+1 \choose 3}(x-1)^2+O\left((x-1)^3\right) \tag{4}
\end{align}$$
Differentiating, multiplying by $x$ and differentiating again we get $$(g'(x) \, x)'={n+1 \choose 2}+{n+1 \choose 3}2 \, x + O(x-1) \tag{5}$$
... which evaluated at $x=1$ gives the desired answer:
$${n+1 \choose 2}+2{n+1 \choose 3} =\frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}  $$
We can apply the same procedure for higher powers. For example:
$$ \sum_{k=1}^n k^3={n+1 \choose 2}+{n+1 \choose 3}6+{n+1 \choose 4}6$$
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