Because the expansion of (a+b)n always has n+1 terms, whether that count is odd or even decides how many terms sit exactly in the middle. If n is even, n+1 is odd, so there is a single, uniquely-determined middle term: the (2n+1)th term. If n is odd, n+1 is even, so there is no single middle term — instead there are two middle terms, the (2n+1)th and the (2n+3)th, which are consecutive terms straddling the centre of the expansion. Once this position (or pair of positions) has been identified purely from the parity of n, the value of the middle term is found in exactly the same way as any other term — by substituting the matching value of r into the general term formula tr+1=nCran−rbr. So this idea is really a two-step recipe layered on top of the general term: first a quick parity check to find which term(s) to compute, then the ordinary general-term substitution to compute it. It shows up throughout the chapter's exercises on expressions such as (x2+x1)7 (odd exponent, two middle terms) and (x2−x2)8 (even exponent, one middle term), and in reverse problems where a stated numeric value of the middle term (e.g. 'the middle term is 160') is used to solve for an unknown constant inside the binomial.