Answer by Barry Cipra for Sum of 'the first k' binomial coefficients for fixed $N$

The sum without the $i=0$ term arises in the "egg drop" problem -- see Michael Boardman's article, "The Egg-Drop Numbers," in Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 77, No. 5 (December, 2004), pp. 368-372, which concludes saying, "it is well known that there is no closed form (that is, direct formula) for the partial sum of binomial coefficients" with a reference to the book A=B by Petkovsek, Wilf, and Zeilberger (but unfortunately no page reference).