Methods of deriving the formulas for the sums of the nth powers usually require knowledge of the formulas for some or all of the sums of the kth powers where k < n (see [1], [2], [6]) or identities that are no less obvious to the students than the summation formulas themselves ([3]). Here’s a genetic way to introduce these summation formulas that gives students a quick lesson in the history of mathematics and prepares them to deal with Taylor series and partial fractions in later courses.