I. Fibonacci Properties The Fibonacci sequence has many unusual properties.

Ex-
periment to decide which of the following properties are valid. In what follows, fn represents
the nth fibonacci number.

(a) If n is even, fn is an odd number.

(b) 2fn − fn−2 = fn+1 for n = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(c) 3fn − fn−2 = fn+2 for n = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(d) f3n is an even number

(a) If n is even, fn is an odd number.

Solution The first column of the table below lists values of n where n is even and the
second column gives the corresponding value of fn :
n fn
2 1
4 3
6 8
From the table, the 2nd and 4th fibonacci number are both odd but the 6th fibonacci number
is even. Therefore the statement “If n is even, fn is an odd number “ is false.

(b) 2fn − fn−2 = fn+1 for n = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Solution The table below shows the values of 2fn − fn−2 and fn+1 for n = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
n 2fn − fn−2 fn+1
3 3 3
4 5 5
5
6
7
The first row in the table is obtained as follows:

For n = 3:
2fn − fn−2 = 2f3 − f3−2
= 2f3 − f1
=2·2−1
=4−1
=3

fn+1 = f3+1
= f4
=3
So we see that the equation 2fn − fn−2 = fn+1 is true for n = 3.

The second row in the table is obtained in a similar manner.

Complete the table above and decide whether the equation 2fn − fn−2 = fn+1 is true for
n = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

1
II. Binet’s Formula The following formula is known as Binet’s formula for the nth fi-
bonacci number.
" √ !n √ !n #
1 1+ 5 1− 5
fn = √ −
5 2 2

The advantage of this formula over the recursive formula

fn = fn−1 + fn−2

is that you can determine the nth fibonacci number without finding the two preceding fi-
bonacci numbers.

Use Binet’s formula and a calculator to find the 20th, 30th and 40th fibonacci numbers.

Solution: Using Binet’s formula, the 20th fibonacci number is computed as follows:
√ !20 √ !20
 
1 1+ 5 1− 5
f20 = √  − 
5 2 2

= 6765 (use a calculator)

Compute f30 and f40 is a similar manner.