Many combinatorial problems can be solved using generating functions.
In such a case, we obtain a function $f(x)$, which (for usual) has a taylor-expansion: $$ f(x) = \sum_{n\ge 0 } a_n x^n $$ So that the coefficients $a_n$ are exactly the elements of the sequence we're looking for.
Further, we may assume that the function $f(x)$ is given in closed form, i.e. as a finite function built using only elementary functions.
Now, unlike when we want to determine the Taylor-expansion, we now want a single coefficient $a_k$, for some fixed $k$.
What's the most efficient method to do this?
An efficient method implemented by some computer algebra systems uses polynomial Newton-Raphson division and term by term integration to compute logarithms of series expansions and uses the inverse of this process implemented by another Newton Raphson process to compute exponentials of series expansions. The number of steps needed to compute the nth term of an elementary function of a given series expansion is then proportional to a power of $\log_2(n)$.