Fibonacci number

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers form a sequence defined by the following recurrence relation:

$F_{n}:={\begin{cases}0&{\mbox{if }}n=0;\\1&{\mbox{if }}n=1;\\F_{n-1}+F_{n-2}&{\mbox{if }}n>1.\\\end{cases}}$

The sequence of fibonacci numbers start: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, ...

Properties

• The quotient of two consecutive fibonacci numbers converges to the golden ratio: $\lim _{n\to \infty }{\frac {F(n+1)}{F(n)}}=\varphi$
• If $\scriptstyle m>2\$ divides $\scriptstyle n\$ then $\scriptstyle F_{m}\$ divides $\scriptstyle F_{n}\$
• If $\scriptstyle p\geq 5$ and $\scriptstyle F_{p}\$ is a prime number then $p$ is prime. (The converse is false.)
• $\operatorname {gcd} (f_{m},f_{n})=f_{\operatorname {gcd} (m,n)}$
• $F_{0}^{2}+F_{1}^{2}+F_{2}^{2}+...+F_{n}^{2}=\sum _{i=0}^{n}F_{i}^{2}=F_{n}\cdot F_{n+1}$

Direct formula

We have

$F_{n}\ =\ {\frac {1}{\sqrt {5}}}\cdot \left(\left({\frac {1+{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}\right)^{n}-\left({\frac {1-{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}\right)^{n}\right)$

for every $\ n=0,1,\dots$ .

Indeed, let  $A:={\frac {1+{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}$  and  $a:={\frac {1-{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}$ .  Let

$f_{n}\ :=\ {\frac {1}{\sqrt {5}}}\cdot (A^{n}-a^{n})$

Then:

• $f_{0}=0\$     and     Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ f_1 = 1}
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle A^2 = A+1\ }     hence     Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ A^{n+2} = A^{n+1}+A^n}
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle a^2 = a+1\ }     hence     Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle a^{n+2} = a^{n+1}+a^n\ }
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle f_{n+2}\ =\ f_{n+1}+f_n}

for every Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ n=0,1,\dots} . Thus Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ f_n = F_n}   for every Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ n=0,1,\dots,} and the formula is proved.

Furthermore, we have:

• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle A\cdot a = -1\ }
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle A > 1\ }
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle -1 < a < 0\ }
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\ >\ \left|\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}\cdot a^n\right|\quad\rightarrow\quad 0}

It follows that

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_n\ }   is the nearest integer to  Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}\cdot \left(\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}\right)^n}

for every Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ n=0,1,\dots} . It follows that  Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{F(n+1)}{F(n)}=A} ;  thus the value of the golden ratio is

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \ \varphi\ =\ A\ =\ \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}} .

Further reading

• John H. Conway und Richard K. Guy, The Book of Numbers, ISBN 0-387-97993-X

Applications

The sequence of Fibonacci numbers was first used to represent the growth of a colony of rabbits, starting with one pair of rabbits.