# A coincidence or something worth explanation?

Inspired by some popular book about Fermat's Last Theorem years ago, experimented a bit and found some interesting sequence:

$3 \neq 4$

$3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2$

$3^3 + 4^3 +5^3 = 6^3$

$3^4 + 4^4 + 5^4 + 6^4 \neq 7^4$

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What do you mean? $x^2 + (x+1)^2$ is not equal to $(x+2)^2$, nor are the others. –  lhf Jul 11 '11 at 14:24
@lhf As is written below it is for $x=3$, so it's just $3^3 + 4^3 + 5^3 = 6^3$. –  Andrew Jul 11 '11 at 14:30
Also, shouldn't the first equation be $3 \ne 4$? –  lhf Jul 11 '11 at 14:43
@Listing, the pattern the OP seems to be after is $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1} (3+k)^n =? (3+n)^n$. –  lhf Jul 11 '11 at 14:46
Why do you even include the first and last lines if they aren't equalities? You've found a scheme involving a grand total of just two equations - that's barely even a coincidence - and the generalized form is flatly disproved by the exceptions you list. I don't think there's anything to see here. –  anon Jul 11 '11 at 15:18