``A generalization of a curiosity that Feynman remembered all his life'' (with Jim Louck and Bill Beyer). (Appeared as a `Math Bite' in Math. Magazine, 69(1)(Feb. 1996), 43-44).

Richard Feynman, like most geniuses, was self-centered. However, snob he was not. The only people he looked down on (and made fun of) were snobs. His non-snobbishness extended to mathematical results, and he savored and admired results that would be considered by lesser humans as `trivial'. One of them is mentioned in this bite. It is essentially equivalent to Euler's (1+x)(1+x^2)(1+x^4)...(1+x^(2^(n-1)))=1+x+x^2+x^3+...+x^(2^n-1), thanks to which we have our binary system.