In the fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes is the great detective, Professor James Moriarty is his evil archenemy, and A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem is a brilliant work of mathematics by the young Moriarty. The treatise is mentioned in The Final Problem, when Sherlock Holmes, speaking of Professor Moriarty, states Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859–7 July 1930) was a British author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... Professor Moriarty, illustration by Sidney Paget which accompanied the original publication of The Final Problem. Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character who is the best known antagonist (and archenemy) of the detective Sherlock Holmes. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Adventure of the Final Problem is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. ...

He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise upon the binomial theorem, which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him.

Professor Moriarty was a versatile mathematician, as well as a criminal mastermind. In addition to the Treatise, he wrote the book The Dynamics of An Asteroid, containing mathematics so esoteric that no one could review it. This is a very different branch of mathematics from the Binomial Theorem, again showing his impressive intellectual prowess. In mathematics, the binomial theorem is an important formula giving the expansion of powers of sums. ... The Dynamics of An Asteroid is a fictional book by Professor James Moriarty, the implacible foe of Sherlock Holmes. ...

The "smaller university" involved is sometimes claimed to be one of the colleges that later comprised the University of Leeds. [1]. The University of Leeds is a major teaching and research university, one of the largest in the United Kingdom with over 32,000 full-time students. ...

Review and discussion of the treatise

Doyle, in his works, never describes the contents of the treatise. This has not stopped people from speculating on what it might have contained. See, for example:

• Anderson, Poul. A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem, Baker Street Journal, 5, No. 1 (January 1955), 13-18.

There are many other references to Moriarty's Treatise. A list of many of them can be found in: Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926–July 31, 2001) was an American science fiction author of the genres Golden Age. ...

• [2] Lists many references to this work, as well as other works of Moriarty such as The Dynamics of an Asteroid.

Also, Treatise is sometimes used when a reference is needed to a non-specific example of a scientific paper. This is the case in an example review of a computer science paper. (In PDF format.)

Other references

In The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, an imitation Holmes story by Nicholas Meyer, Moriarty in conversation with Watson denies any treatise on the Binomial Theorem, saying, "Certainly not. Who has anything new to say about the Binomial Theorem at this late date? At any rate, I am certainly not the man to know." The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche by Nicholas Meyer. ... Nicholas Meyer at the Paramount Pictures lot in 2002. ...

In "Sherlock Holmes - The Unauthorized Biography", a book by Nick Rennison, the 'smaller university' is said to be Durham.