Understanding Fibonacci Sequence

This topic will teach you how to deal with a lot of number patterns. These number
patterns are called sequences, specifically fibonacci sequence.
The Fibonacci numbers are a series of numbers that often occur in nature. This
number sequence was developed in the middle ages, and it was named after Leonardo
Pisano Bigollo, a famous Italian mathematician who also happened to dicover
Fibonacci, is a short term for the Latin filius bonacci, which means “ the son of Bonacci”.
In 1202 Leonardo Pisano Bigollo published his most prominent work the Liber
Abaci ( The Book of Calculating ). In this book, he introduced his famous rabbit problem.
If a pair of rabbits is put into a walled enclosure (room) to breed, how many pairs
of rabbits will there be after a year if it assumed that every month each pair produces
one new pair, which begins to bear young two months after its own birth?
Table 1: Breeding of Rabbits
Numbe Pair Numbe Numbe Numbe
r of r of A’s r of B’s r of
Months pairs
1st A 1 0 1
month
2nd AB 1 1 2
month
3rd ABA 2 1 3
month
4th ABAAB 3 2 5
month
5th ABAABABA 5 3 8
month
6th ABAABABAABAAB 8 5 13
month
7th ABAABABAABAABABAABABA 13 8 21
month
8th ABAABABAABAABABAABABAABAABABAAB 21 13 34
month AAB
The table gives you the idea of the total number of rabbit pairs in each month and
the total
Fibonacci Sequence
The series numbers 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, . . . . in each column on the
Table 1 is called Fibonacci Sequence. The sequence begins with zero or one. Each
subsequent number found by getting the sum of two preceding numbers.
In particular,
 - 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1 + 1)
- 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1 + 2)
- 5 is found by adding the two numbers before it (2 + 3)
- 8 is found by adding the two numbers before it (5 + 3), and so on
A sequence (noun) is an ordered sey of numbers, shapes, or any other mathematical
objects arranged into a rule.
Considered the Fibonacci sequence, and number each term from 0 onward.
𝑛 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ....
𝐹𝑛 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21
So the term number 6 is called 𝐹6 (which equals 8)
Example 1. If we want to find the 8th term, that is 7th term plus the 6th term:
Solution: 𝐹8 = 𝐹7 + 𝐹6
Means 𝐹8 = 𝐹8−1 + 𝐹8−2
So 𝐹8 = 13 + 8
Therefore 𝐹8 = 21
The example above suggests the rule that makes the Fibonacci sequence, that is
“ the next number is the sum of the previous two.” This kind of rule is sometimes called
a recurrence relation. Mathematically, this is written into a functional notation that is
𝐹𝑛 = 𝐹𝑛−1 + 𝑛 − 2 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐹0 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹1 = 1
𝐹𝑛 = 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑛
𝐹𝑛−1 = 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 ( 𝑛 − 1 )
𝐹𝑛−2 = 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ( 𝑛 − 1 )

Example: Calculate the value of 𝐹9

Solution: 𝐹9 = 𝐹8 + 𝐹7
= 21 + 13
= 34

Alternative formula to find 𝐹𝑛 using Binet’s Formula ( using calculator )

𝑛 𝑛
1 + √5 1 − √5
( ) − ( )
2 2
𝐹𝑛 =
√5

Where 𝐹𝑛 = Fibonacci number

𝑛 = 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟
Example: Find the value of 𝐹27
Solution :
 27 27
1 + √5 1 − √5
( ) − ( )
2 2
𝐹27 =
√5

𝐹27 = 196,418

Romel M. Carandang