Generalizations of Fibonacci numbers


In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers form a sequence defined recursively by:
That is, after two starting values, each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers.
The Fibonacci sequence has been studied extensively and generalized in many ways, for example, by starting with other numbers than 0 and 1, by adding more than two numbers to generate the next number, or by adding objects other than numbers.

Extension to negative integers

Using, one can extend the Fibonacci numbers to negative integers. So we get:
and.
See also Negafibonacci.

Extension to all real or complex numbers

There are a number of possible generalizations of the Fibonacci numbers which include the real numbers in their domain. These each involve the golden ratio, and are based on Binet's formula
The analytic function
has the property that for even integers. Similarly, the analytic function:
satisfies for odd integers.
Finally, putting these together, the analytic function
satisfies for all integers.
Since for all complex numbers, this function also provides an extension of the Fibonacci sequence to the entire complex plane. Hence we can calculate the generalized Fibonacci function of a complex variable, for example,

Vector space

The term Fibonacci sequence is also applied more generally to any function from the integers to a field for which. These functions are precisely those of the form, so the Fibonacci sequences form a vector space with the functions and as a basis.
More generally, the range of may be taken to be any abelian group. Then the Fibonacci sequences form a 2-dimensional -module in the same way.

Similar integer sequences

Fibonacci integer sequences

The 2-dimensional -module of Fibonacci integer sequences consists of all integer sequences satisfying. Expressed in terms of two initial values we have:
where is the golden ratio.
The ratio between two consecutive elements converges to the golden ratio, except in the case of the sequence which is constantly zero and the sequences where the ratio of the two first terms is.
The sequence can be written in the form
in which if and only if. In this form the simplest non-trivial example has, which is the sequence of Lucas numbers:
We have and. The properties include:
Every nontrivial Fibonacci integer sequence appears as one of the rows of the Wythoff array. The Fibonacci sequence itself is the first row, and a shift of the Lucas sequence is the second row.
See also Fibonacci integer sequences modulo.

Lucas sequences

A different generalization of the Fibonacci sequence is the Lucas sequences of the kind defined as follows:
where the normal Fibonacci sequence is the special case of and. Another kind of Lucas sequence begins with,. Such sequences have applications in number theory and primality proving.
When, this sequence is called -Fibonacci sequence, for example, Pell sequence is also called 2-Fibonacci sequence.
The 3-Fibonacci sequence is
The 4-Fibonacci sequence is
The 5-Fibonacci sequence is
The 6-Fibonacci sequence is
The -Fibonacci constant is the ratio toward which adjacent -Fibonacci numbers tend; it is also called the th metallic mean, and it is the only positive root of. For example, the case of is, or the golden ratio, and the case of is, or the silver ratio. Generally, the case of is.
Generally, can be called -Fibonacci sequence, and can be called -Lucas sequence.
The -Fibonacci sequence is
The -Fibonacci sequence is
The -Fibonacci sequence is
The -Fibonacci sequence is

Fibonacci numbers of higher order

A Fibonacci sequence of order is an integer sequence in which each sequence element is the sum of the previous elements. The usual Fibonacci numbers are a Fibonacci sequence of order 2. The cases and have been thoroughly investigated. The number of compositions of nonnegative integers into parts that are at most is a Fibonacci sequence of order. The sequence of the number of strings of 0s and 1s of length that contain at most consecutive 0s is also a Fibonacci sequence of order.
These sequences, their limiting ratios, and the limit of these limiting ratios, were investigated by Mark Barr in 1913.

Tribonacci numbers

The tribonacci numbers are like the Fibonacci numbers, but instead of starting with two predetermined terms, the sequence starts with three predetermined terms and each term afterwards is the sum of the preceding three terms. The first few tribonacci numbers are:
The series was first described formally by Agronomof in 1914, but its first unintentional use is in the Origin of species by Charles R. Darwin. In the example of illustrating the growth of elephant population, he relied on the calculations made by his son, George H. Darwin. The term tribonacci was suggested by Feinberg in 1963.
The tribonacci constant
is the ratio toward which adjacent tribonacci numbers tend. It is a root of the polynomial, and also satisfies the equation. It is important in the study of the snub cube.
The reciprocal of the tribonacci constant, expressed by the relation, can be written as:
The tribonacci numbers are also given by
where denotes the nearest integer function and

Tetranacci numbers

The tetranacci numbers start with four predetermined terms, each term afterwards being the sum of the preceding four terms. The first few tetranacci numbers are:
The tetranacci constant is the ratio toward which adjacent tetranacci numbers tend. It is a root of the polynomial, approximately 1.927561975482925, and also satisfies the equation.
The tetranacci constant is expressed in terms of radicals by
where

Higher orders

Pentanacci, hexanacci, and heptanacci numbers have been computed. The pentanacci numbers are:
Hexanacci numbers:
Heptanacci numbers:
Octanacci numbers:
Enneanacci numbers:
The limit of the ratio of successive terms of an -nacci series tends to a root of the equation .
An alternate recursive formula for the limit of ratio of two consecutive -nacci numbers can be expressed as
The special case is the traditional Fibonacci series yielding the golden section.
The above formulas for the ratio hold even for -nacci series generated from arbitrary numbers. The limit of this ratio is 2 as increases. An "infinacci" sequence, if one could be described, would after an infinite number of zeroes yield the sequence
which are simply the powers of two.
The limit of the ratio for any is the positive root of the characteristic equation
The root is in the interval. The negative root of the characteristic equation is in the interval when is even. This root and each complex root of the characteristic equation has modulus.
A series for the positive root for any is
There is no solution of the characteristic equation in terms of radicals when.
The th element of the -nacci sequence is given by
where denotes the nearest integer function and is the -nacci constant, which is the root of nearest to 2.
A coin-tossing problem is related to the -nacci sequence. The probability that no consecutive tails will occur in tosses of an idealized coin is.

Fibonacci word

In analogy to its numerical counterpart, the Fibonacci word is defined by:
where denotes the concatenation of two strings. The sequence of Fibonacci strings starts:
The length of each Fibonacci string is a Fibonacci number, and similarly there exists a corresponding Fibonacci string for each Fibonacci number.
Fibonacci strings appear as inputs for the worst case in some computer algorithms.
If "a" and "b" represent two different materials or atomic bond lengths, the structure corresponding to a Fibonacci string is a Fibonacci quasicrystal, an aperiodic quasicrystal structure with unusual spectral properties.

Convolved Fibonacci sequences

A convolved Fibonacci sequence is obtained applying a convolution operation to the Fibonacci sequence one or more times. Specifically, define
and
The first few sequences are
The sequences can be calculated using the recurrence
The generating function of the th convolution is
The sequences are related to the sequence of Fibonacci polynomials by the relation
where is the th derivative of. Equivalently, is the coefficient of when is expanded in powers of.
The first convolution, can be written in terms of the Fibonacci and Lucas numbers as
and follows the recurrence
Similar expressions can be found for with increasing complexity as increases. The numbers are the row sums of Hosoya's triangle.
As with Fibonacci numbers, there are several combinatorial interpretations of these sequences. For example is the number of ways can be written as an ordered sum involving only 0, 1, and 2 with 0 used exactly once. In particular and 2 can be written,,,,.

Other generalizations

The Fibonacci polynomials are another generalization of Fibonacci numbers.
The Padovan sequence is generated by the recurrence.
The Narayana's cows sequence is generated by the recurrence.
A random Fibonacci sequence can be defined by tossing a coin for each position of the sequence and taking if it lands heads and if it lands tails. Work by Furstenberg and Kesten guarantees that this sequence almost surely grows exponentially at a constant rate: the constant is independent of the coin tosses and was computed in 1999 by Divakar Viswanath. It is now known as Viswanath's constant.
A repfigit, or Keith number, is an integer such that, when its digits start a Fibonacci sequence with that number of digits, the original number is eventually reached. An example is 47, because the Fibonacci sequence starting with 4 and 7 reaches 47. A repfigit can be a tribonacci sequence if there are 3 digits in the number, a tetranacci number if the number has four digits, etc. The first few repfigits are:
Since the set of sequences satisfying the relation is closed under termwise addition and under termwise multiplication by a constant, it can be viewed as a vector space. Any such sequence is uniquely determined by a choice of two elements, so the vector space is two-dimensional. If we abbreviate such a sequence as, the Fibonacci sequence and the shifted Fibonacci sequence are seen to form a canonical basis for this space, yielding the identity:
for all such sequences. For example, if is the Lucas sequence, then we obtain

-generated Fibonacci sequence

We can define the -generated Fibonacci sequence : if
where is the th prime, then we define
If, then, and if, then.

Semi-Fibonacci sequence

The semi-Fibonacci sequence is defined via the same recursion for odd-indexed terms and, but for even indices,. The bissection of odd-indexed terms therefore verifies and is strictly increasing. It yields the set of the semi-Fibonacci numbers
which occur as.