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On the Generalized Tribonacci Like Polynomials

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On the Generalized Tribonacci Like Polynomials
E. Gokcen KOCER, Hatice GEDIKCE
Necmettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Science,
Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences
Meram, Konya-TURKEY
September 19, 2016

Abstract
In this study, we give a new generalization of the tribonacci like poly-
nomials which are Tn (x; y; z) and Ln (x; y; z). The classical tribonacci
numbers and tribonacci polynomials are special cases of the polynomial
Tn (x; y; z) (Tn (1; 1; 1) = Tn n th tribonacci number, Tn x2 ; x; 1 =
tn (x) n th tribonacci polynomials). Also, we obtain the some proper-
ties of the polynomials Tn (x; y; z) and Ln (x; y; z). Using these properties,
we give the some results for the tribonacci numbers and tribonacci poly-
nomials.

1 Introduction
The tribonacci sequence orginally studied in 1963 by M. Feinberg. For n > 2,
the tribonacci numbers Tn are de…ned by the recurrence relation

Tn = T n 1 + Tn 2 + Tn 3; T0 = 0; T1 = 1; T2 = 1:

The …rst few terms of the tribonacci numbers 0; 1; 1; 2; 4; 7; 13; 24; 44; 81; 149; : : :
[4].
In [1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10], the authors investigated Binet’s formula, some identities
and other properties of the tribonacci numbers. Also, Alladi and Hoggatt [1]
de…ned the tribonacci triangle as following

n i 0 1 2 3 4 5 :::
0 1
1 1 1
2 1 3 1
3 1 5 5 1
4 1 7 13 7 1
5 1 9 25 25 9 1
..
.
Table1: Trib onacci Triangle

1
It is interesting to note that, the sum of the elements on the rising diagonal
lines in the tribonacci triangle is 1; 1; 2; 4; 7; 13; 24; : : :which are the tribonacci
numbers.
In 1973, the tribonacci polynomials was de…ned by Hoggatt and Bicknell [3].
For n > 2; the recurrence relation of the tribonacci polynomials is

tn (x) = x2 tn 1 (x) + xtn 2 (x) + tn 3 (x)

where t0 (x) = 0; t1 (x) = 1; t2 (x) = x2 :

The …rst few tribonacci polynomials are 0; 1; x2 ; x4 + x; x6 + 2x3 + 1; x8 +
3x + 3x2 ; x10 + 4x7 + 6x4 + 2x; : : :. It’s clearly tn (1) = Tn , n th tribonacci
5

number.
There are di¤erent contexts associated with the tribonacci numbers and
polynomials. One of them is Incomplete tribonacci numbers and polynomials
in [9]. Ramirez and Sirvent de…ned the tribonacci polynomial triangle as

n i 0 1 2 3 4 5 :::
0 1
1 x2 x
2 x4 2x3 + 1 x2
3 x6 3x5 + 2x2 3x4 + 2x x3
4 x8 4x7 + 3x4 6x6 + 6x3 + 1 4x5 + 3x2 x4
5 x10 5x9 + 4x6 10x8 + 12x5 + 3x2 10x7 + 12x4 + 3x 5x6 + 4x3 x5
..
.
Table 2: Trib onacci Polynom ial Triangle

In [5], the authors de…ned the generalized tribonacci numbers and derive an
explicit formula for the generalized tribonacci numbers with negative subscripts.
In [11], Tan and Zhang de…ned the bivariate and trivariate Fibonacci polyno-
mials.
In this study, based on the de…nition of Tan and Zhang [11], we make a new
genaralization of the tribonacci polynomials.

2 Main Results
Let n > 2 be integer. The recurrence relations of the generalized tribonacci like
polynomials are

Tn (x; y; z) = xTn 1 (x; y; z) + yTn 2 (x; y; z) + zTn 3 (x; y; z) (1)

with the initial conditions

T0 (x; y; z) = 0; T1 (x; y; z) = 1; T2 (x; y; z) = x

and
Ln (x; y; z) = xLn 1 (x; y; z) + yLn 2 (x; y; z) + zLn 3 (x; y; z) (2)

2
with the initial conditions

L0 (x; y; z) = 3; L1 (x; y; z) = x; L2 (x; y; z) = x2 + 2y:

Taking x = y = z = 1 in (1), we have the tribonacci numbers, namely

Tn (1; 1; 1) = Tn , n th tribonacci numbers. Using x2 instead of x, x instead of
y and z = 1 in (1), we obtain the tribonacci polynomials (Tn x2 ; x; 1 = tn (x),
n th tribonacci polynomials).
We show that the …rst few terms of the generalized tribonacci like polyno-
mials in Table 3.
n Tn (x; y; z) Ln (x; y; z)
0 0 3
1 1 x
2 x x2 + 2y
3 x2 + y x3 + 3xy + 3z
4 x3 + 2xy + z x4 + 4x2 y + 4xz + 2y 2
5 x4 + 3x2 y + 2xz + y 2 x5 + 5x3 y + 5xy 2 + 5x2 z + 5yz
6 x5 + 4x3 y + 3xy 2 + 3x2 z + 2yz x6 + 6x4 y + 9x2 y 2 + 6x3 z + 12xyz + 2y 3 + 3z 2
.. .. ..
. . .
Table 3
The characteristic equation of the recurrences (1) and (2) is
3 2
x y z = 0: (3)

Using the standart tecniques, we have the Binet’s formula for the generalized
tribonacci like polynomials
n+1 n+1 n+1
Tn (x; y; z) = + + (4)
( )( ) ( )( ) ( )( )

and
n n n
Ln (x; y; z) = + + (5)
where ; and roots of the characteristic equation (3).
The generating functions of the generalized tribonacci like poynomials are
1
X t
h (t) = Tn (x; y; z) tn = (6)
n=0
1 xt yt2 zt3

and
1
X 3 2xt yt2
k (t) = Ln (x; y; z) tn = : (7)
n=0
1 xt yt2 zt3

Taking x = y = z = 1 in (6), we obtain the generating function of the

tribonacci numbers as
1
X t
h (t) = T n tn =
n=0
1 t t2 t3

3
Using x2 instead of x, x instead of y and z = 1 in (6), we have the generating
function of the tribonacci polynomials as follows
1
X t
h (t) = tn (x) tn =
n=0
1 x2 t xt2 t3

Theorem 1 Sum of the generalized tribonacci like polynomials are

n
X Tn+2 (x; y; z) + (1 x) Tn+1 (x; y; z) + zTn (x; y; z) 1
Ts (x; y; z) = (8)
s=0
x+y+z 1

and
n
X Ln+2 (x; y; z) + (x 1) Ln+1 (x; y; z) + zLn (x; y; z) (3 2x y)
Ls (x; y; z) =
s=0
x+y+z 1
(9)
for x + y + z 6= 1:

Proof. Using the Binet’s formulas, the proof is clear.

Taking x = y = z = 1 in (8), we have sum of the tribonacci numbers as
n
X Tn+2 + Tn 1
Ts = :
s=0
2

Similarly, we obtain sum of the tribonacci polynomials as

n
X tn+2 (x) + 1 x2 tn+1 (x) + tn (x) 1
ts (x) = :
s=0
x2 + x

Theorem 2 Let Tn (x; y; z) and Ln (x; y; z) be n th generalized tribonacci like

polynomials. Then

Ln (x; y; z) = xTn (x; y; z) + 2yTn 1 (x; y; z) + 3zTn 2 (x; y; z) : (10)

Proof. Using the generating function of the polynomials Ln (x; y; z), we have
1
X 3 2xt yt2
Ln (x; y; z) tn =
n=0
1 xt yt2 zt3
1 t t2
= 3 2x y
1 xt yt2 zt3 1 xt yt2 zt3 1 xt yt2 zt3
1
X 1
X 1
X
= 3 Tn+1 (x; y; z) tn 2x Tn (x; y; z) tn y Tn 1 (x; y; z) tn
n=0 n=0 n=0
1
X
= (3Tn+1 (x; y; z) 2xTn (x; y; z) yTn 1 (x; y; z)) tn :
n=0

4
From the recurrence relation (1), we can write
1
X 1
X
Ln (x; y; z) tn = (xTn (x; y; z) + 2yTn 1 (x; y; z) + 3zTn 2 (x; y; z)) tn :
n=0 n=0

It is clear that

Ln (x; y; z) = xTn (x; y; z) + 2yTn 1 (x; y; z) + 3zTn 2 (x; y; z) :

Theorem 3 The explicit formulas of the generalized tribonacci like polynomials

are
n 1
bX2 c i
X i n i j 1 n 2i j 1 i j j
Tn (x; y; z) = x y z : (11)
i=0 j=0
j i

and
bX
2c i
n
X n i n i j
Ln (x; y; z) = xn 2i j i j j
y z : (12)
i=0 j=0
n i j j i

Proof. Using the mathematical induction on n, the formula (11) is trivially

true for n = 1 and n = 2: Assume it’s true for n = k 1 and n = k where k 3:
Then we have

Tk+1 (x; y; z) = xTk (x; y; z) + yTk 1 (x; y; z) + zTk 2 (x; y; z)

k 1
bX2 c i
X i k i j 1
= x xk 2i j 1 i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i
k 2
bX2 c i
X i k i j 2
+y xk 2i j 2 i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i
k 3
bX2 c i
X i k i j 3
+z xk 2i j 3 i j j
y z :
i=0 j=0
j i

Taking k = 2t, we have

t 1X
X i
i 2t i j 1
Tk+1 (x; y; z) = x2t 2i j i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i
Xt 1X i
i 2t i j 2
+ x2t 2i j 2 i j+1 j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i
Xt 2X i
i 2t i j 3
+ x2t 2i j 3 i j j+1
y z :
i=0 j=0
j i

5
Using the Pascal’s formula, we obtain
Xt X i
i 2t i j
Tk+1 (x; y; z) = x2t 2i j i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i
bX2c i
k
X i k i j
= xk 2i j i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i

by k = 2t: If k is odd, the formula holds. Thus, the proof is completed. The
proof of the formula (12) is similar.
Taking x = y = z = 1 in (11), we obtain the explicit formula for the
tribonacci numbers as
n 1
bX2 c i
X i n i j 1
Tn (1; 1; 1) =
i=0 j=0
j i

Also, we have
n 1
bX2 c i
X
2 i n i j 1
Tn x ; x; 1 = x2n 3(i+j) 2

i=0 j=0
j i

which is the explicit formula for the tribonacci polynomials [9].

Theorem 4 Let Tn (x; y; z) and Ln (x; y; z) be n th generalized tribonacci like
polynomials. Then
@Ln (x; y; z) @Ln (x; y; z) @Ln (x; y; z)
x +y +z = nTn+1 (x; y; z) : (13)
@x @y @z
Proof. Using partial derivations of the explicit formula of the polynomial
Ln (x; y; z) ; we have
0 1
bX
2c i
n
X
@Ln (x; y; z) @ B n i n i j n 2i j i j j C
= @ x y z A
@x @x i=0 j=0 n i j j i

2c i
bX
n
X n i n i j
= (n 2i j) xn 2i j 1 i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
n i j j i
n 1
bX2 c i
X i n i j 1
= n xn 2i j 1 i j j
y z
i=0 j=0
j i
= nTn (x; y; z) :
Similarly, we obtain
@Ln (x; y; z)
= nTn 1 (x; y; z)
@y

6
and
@Ln (x; y; z)
= nTn 2 (x; y; z) :
@z
Using the recurrence relation (1), we have

@Ln (x; y; z) @Ln (x; y; z) @Ln (x; y; z)

x +y +z = nTn+1 (x; y; z) :
@x @y @z

Generating matrix of the tribonacci polynomials is introduced in [3, 4]. Sim-

ilarly, the generalized Tribonacci polynomial are generated by the matrix Q;
0 1
x 1 0
Q=@ y 0 1 A
z 0 0

It can be proved by mathematical induction on n

0 1
Tn+1 Tn Tn 1
Qn = @ yTn + zTn 1 yTn 1 + zTn 2 yTn 2 + zTn 3 A
zTn zTn 1 zTn 2

where Tn (x; y; z) = Tn :

Theorem 5 Let m and n be positive integers.

Tm+n (x; y; z) = Tm+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z) + Tm (x; y; z) Tn+1 (x; y; z) (14)

+zTm 1 (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) xTm (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z)

Proof. Using the identity Qn+m = Qn Qm and matrix equality, the result is
clear.
Identity (14) is similar to Honsberger formula for the Fibonacci like se-
quences. From the special cases of (14), we obtain the some identities for the
generalized tribonacci polynomials.Taking m = n in (14), we have

T2n (x; y; z) = zTn2 1 (x; y; z) xTn2 (x; y; z) + 2Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z)

Let n + 1 instead of m in (14). From the recurennce relation (1), we obtain

2
T2n+1 (x; y; z) = Tn+1 (x; y; z) + yTn2 (x; y; z) + 2zTn (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) :

Theorem 6 Let Tn (x; y; z) be n th the generalized tribonacci polynomial.

Then
Tn+2 (x; y; z) Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z)
Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) = z n 1 : (15)
Tn (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) Tn 2 (x; y; z)

7
Proof. It’s note that det (Q) = z and det (Qn ) = z n : Using the determinants
of the matrices Q and Qn ; we obtain

Tn+1 Tn Tn 1
yTn + zTn 1 yTn 1 + zTn 2 yTn 2 + zTn 3 = zn:
zTn zTn 1 zTn 2

We multiply the …rst row of Qn by x and add to second row. Then, we exchange
rows 1 and 2, we have

Tn+2 (x; y; z) Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z)

Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) = zn
zTn (x; y; z) zTn 1 (x; y; z) zTn 2 (x; y; z)

From the properties of determinant, we obtain

Tn+2 (x; y; z) Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z)

Tn+1 (x; y; z) Tn (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) = zn 1
:
Tn (x; y; z) Tn 1 (x; y; z) Tn 2 (x; y; z)

The result of the determinant (15) is o¤er the Cassini like identity for the
generalized tribonacci polynomials. Taking x = y = z = 1 in (15), we obtained
the determinantal property for the Tribonacci numbers. Using x2 instead of x,
x instead of y and z = 1;we have the determinantal property for the tribonacci
polynomials in [3].

References
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The Fibonacci Quarterly, 15, 42-45, 1977.
[2] Feng, J., More Identities on the Tribonacci Numbers, Ars Combinatoria,
100, 73-78, 2011.
[3] Hoggatt, V.E., Bicknell, M., Generalized Fibonacci Polynomials, The Fi-
bonacci Quarterly,11, 457-465, 1973.
[4] Koshy, T., Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers with Applications, A Wiley-
Interscience Publication, 2001
[5] Kuhapatanakul, K., Sukruan, L., The Generalized Tribonacci Numbers
with Negative Subscripts, Integers 14, 2014.
[6] Lin, Pin-Yen., De Moivre-Type Identities for the Tribonacci Numbers, The
Fibonacci Quarterly, 26(2), 131-134, 1988.
[7] McCarty, C.P., A Formula for Tribonacci Numbers, The Fibonacci Quar-
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8
 [8] Pethe, S., Some Identities for Tribonacci Sequences, The Fibonacci Quar-
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[10] Spickerman, W.R., Binet’s Formula for the Tribonacci Sequence, The Fi-
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