FIBONACCI AND LUCAS IDENTITIES
Mathematics is the music of reason.
–James Joseph Sylvester (1814–1897)
Both Fibonacci and Lucas numbers satisfy numerous identities. Many were discovered centuries ago. In this chapter we will explore several fundamental identities.
We will begin with a few summation formulas. Exercise 2.10, for example, required that we conjecture a formula for the sum . In doing so, we notice an interesting pattern:
![equation](/api/v2/epubs/9781118742129/files/images/c05-math-0002.png)
Following this pattern, we conjecture that .
We will now state this as a theorem, and then establish it in two different ways. See Exercise 5.21 for a third method.
A popular technique that is useful in dealing with finite sums is a telescoping sum. A sum of the form is a telescoping sum. It is easy to show that
. This will come in handy in establishing the conjecture.
Get Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers with Applications, Volume 1, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.