In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, the
Fibonacci number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...
s form a
sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...
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
integer
An integer is the number zero (0), a positive natural number (1, 2, 3, ...), or the negation of a positive natural number (−1, −2, −3, ...). The negations or additive inverses of the positive natural numbers are referred to as negative in ...
s. So we get:
:... −8, 5, −3, 2, −1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ...
and
.
See also
Negafibonacci coding.
Extension to all real or complex numbers
There are a number of possible generalizations of the Fibonacci numbers which include the
real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every re ...
s (and sometimes the
complex number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...
s) in their domain. These each involve the
golden ratio
In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their summation, sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities and with , is in a golden ratio to if
\fr ...
, and are based on
Binet's formula
In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...
:
The
analytic function
In mathematics, an analytic function is a function that is locally given by a convergent power series. There exist both real analytic functions and complex analytic functions. Functions of each type are infinitely differentiable, but complex ...
:
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
Function or functionality may refer to:
Computing
* Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards
* Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system
* Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-orie ...
from the integers to a
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
for which
. These functions are precisely those of the form
, so the Fibonacci sequences form a
vector space
In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set (mathematics), set whose elements, often called vector (mathematics and physics), ''vectors'', can be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called sc ...
with the functions
and
as a
basis.
More generally, the range of
may be taken to be any
abelian group
In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is commu ...
(regarded as a Z-
module). Then the Fibonacci sequences form a 2-dimensional Z-module in the same way.
Similar integer sequences
Fibonacci integer sequences
The 2-dimensional
-module of Fibonacci
integer sequence
In mathematics, an integer sequence is a sequence (i.e., an ordered list) of integers.
An integer sequence may be specified ''explicitly'' by giving a formula for its ''n''th term, or ''implicitly'' by giving a relationship between its terms. For ...
s 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 number
The Lucas sequence is an integer sequence named after the mathematician François Édouard Anatole Lucas (1842–1891), who studied both that sequence and the closely related Fibonacci sequence. Individual numbers in the Lucas sequence ar ...
s:
:
We have
and
. The properties include:
:
Every nontrivial Fibonacci integer sequence appears (possibly after a shift by a finite number of positions) as one of the rows of the
Wythoff array
In mathematics, the Wythoff array is an infinite Matrix (mathematics), matrix of positive integers derived from the Fibonacci sequence and named after Dutch mathematician Willem Abraham Wythoff. Every positive integer occurs exactly once in the arr ...
. 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 ''n''.
Lucas sequences
A different generalization of the Fibonacci sequence is the
Lucas sequence
In mathematics, the Lucas sequences U_n(P,Q) and V_n(P, Q) are certain constant-recursive integer sequences that satisfy the recurrence relation
: x_n = P \cdot x_ - Q \cdot x_
where P and Q are fixed integers. Any sequence satisfying this rec ...
s 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
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
and
primality
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
proving.
When
, this sequence is called -Fibonacci sequence, for example,
Pell sequence is also called 2-Fibonacci sequence.
The 3-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 3, 10, 33, 109, 360, 1189, 3927, 12970, 42837, 141481, 467280, 1543321, 5097243, 16835050, 55602393, 183642229, 606529080, ...
The 4-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 4, 17, 72, 305, 1292, 5473, 23184, 98209, 416020, 1762289, 7465176, 31622993, 133957148, 567451585, 2403763488, ...
The 5-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 5, 26, 135, 701, 3640, 18901, 98145, 509626, 2646275, 13741001, 71351280, 370497401, 1923838285, 9989688826, ...
The 6-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 6, 37, 228, 1405, 8658, 53353, 328776, 2026009, 12484830, 76934989, 474094764, 2921503573, 18003116202, ...
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
In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
of
. For example, the case of
is
, or the
golden ratio
In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their summation, sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities and with , is in a golden ratio to if
\fr ...
, and the case of
is
, or the
silver ratio
In mathematics, the silver ratio is a geometrical aspect ratio, proportion with exact value the positive polynomial root, solution of the equation
The name ''silver ratio'' results from analogy with the golden ratio, the positive solution of ...
. Generally, the case of
is
.
Generally,
can be called -Fibonacci sequence, and can be called -Lucas sequence.
The (1,2)-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 1, 3, 5, 11, 21, 43, 85, 171, 341, 683, 1365, 2731, 5461, 10923, 21845, 43691, 87381, 174763, 349525, 699051, 1398101, 2796203, 5592405, 11184811, 22369621, 44739243, 89478485, ...
The (1,3)-Fibonacci sequence is
:1, 1, 4, 7, 19, 40, 97, 217, 508, 1159, 2683, 6160, 14209, 32689, 75316, 173383, 399331, 919480, 2117473, 4875913, 11228332, 25856071, 59541067, ...
The (2,2)-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 2, 6, 16, 44, 120, 328, 896, 2448, 6688, 18272, 49920, 136384, 372608, 1017984, 2781184, 7598336, 20759040, 56714752, ...
The (3,3)-Fibonacci sequence is
:0, 1, 3, 12, 45, 171, 648, 2457, 9315, 35316, 133893, 507627, 1924560, 7296561, 27663363, 104879772, 397629405, 1507527531, 5715470808, ...
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 (with the exception of the first
elements in the sequence). 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:
:
0,
0,
1,
1,
2,
4,
7,
13,
24,
44,
81,
149, 274, 504, 927, 1705, 3136, 5768, 10609, 19513, 35890, 66012, …
The series was first described formally by Agronomof in 1914,
but its first unintentional use is in the ''
Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...
'' 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:
:0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8,
15,
29,
56,
108,
208, 401, 773, 1490, 2872, 5536, 10671, 20569, 39648, 76424, 147312, 283953, 547337, …
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 can be expressed in terms of
radicals
Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century
*Radical politics ...
by the following expression:
:
where,
:
and
is the real root of the cubic equation
Higher orders
Pentanacci, hexanacci, heptanacci, octanacci and enneanacci numbers have been computed.
Pentanacci numbers:
:0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 31, 61, 120, 236, 464, 912, 1793, 3525, 6930, 13624, …
The pentanacci constant is the ratio toward which adjacent pentanacci numbers tend.
It is a root of the polynomial
, approximately 1.965948236645485 , and also satisfies the equation
.
Hexanacci numbers:
:0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 63, 125, 248, 492, 976, 1936, 3840, 7617, 15109, …
The hexanacci constant is the ratio toward which adjacent hexanacci numbers tend.
It is a root of the polynomial
, approximately 1.98358284342 , and also satisfies the equation
.
Heptanacci numbers:
:0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 127, 253, 504, 1004, 2000, 3984, 7936, 15808, …
The heptanacci constant is the ratio toward which adjacent heptanacci numbers tend.
It is a root of the polynomial
, approximately 1.99196419660 , and also satisfies the equation
.
Octanacci numbers:
:0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 255, 509, 1016, 2028, 4048, 8080, 16128, ...
Enneanacci numbers:
:0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 511, 1021, 2040, 4076, 8144, 16272, ...
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
:
.., 0, 0, 1,1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, …
which are simply the
powers of two
A power of two is a number of the form where is an integer, that is, the result of exponentiation with number two as the base and integer as the exponent. In the fast-growing hierarchy, is exactly equal to f_1^n(1). In the Hardy hi ...
.
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 (−1, 0) 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
A Fibonacci word is a specific sequence of Binary numeral system, binary digits (or symbols from any two-letter Alphabet (formal languages), alphabet). The Fibonacci word is formed by repeated concatenation in the same way that the Fibonacci num ...
is defined by:
:
where
denotes the
concatenation
In formal language theory and computer programming, string concatenation is the operation of joining character strings end-to-end. For example, the concatenation of "snow" and "ball" is "snowball". In certain formalizations of concatenati ...
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 computer science, best, worst, and average cases of a given algorithm express what the resource usage is ''at least'', ''at most'' and ''on average'', respectively. Usually the resource being considered is running time, i.e. time complexity, b ...
in some computer
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...
s.
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
A quasiperiodicity, quasiperiodic crystal, or quasicrystal, is a structure that is Order and disorder (physics), ordered but not Bravais lattice, periodic. A quasicrystalline pattern can continuously fill all available space, but it lacks trans ...
structure with unusual
spectral properties.
Convolved Fibonacci sequences
A convolved Fibonacci sequence is obtained applying a
convolution
In mathematics (in particular, functional analysis), convolution is a operation (mathematics), mathematical operation on two function (mathematics), functions f and g that produces a third function f*g, as the integral of the product of the two ...
operation to the Fibonacci sequence one or more times. Specifically, define
:
and
:
The first few sequences are
:
: 0, 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 38, 71, … .
:
: 0, 0, 0, 1, 3, 9, 22, 51, 111, … .
:
: 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 4, 14, 40, 105, … .
The sequences can be calculated using the recurrence
:
The
generating function
In mathematics, a generating function is a representation of an infinite sequence of numbers as the coefficients of a formal power series. Generating functions are often expressed in closed form (rather than as a series), by some expression invo ...
of the
th convolution is
:
The sequences are related to the sequence of
Fibonacci polynomials by the relation
:
where
is the
th
derivative
In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is t ...
of
. Equivalently,
is the
coefficient
In mathematics, a coefficient is a Factor (arithmetic), multiplicative factor involved in some Summand, term of a polynomial, a series (mathematics), series, or any other type of expression (mathematics), expression. It may be a Dimensionless qu ...
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
In number theory, the Padovan sequence is the integer sequence, sequence of integers ''P''(''n'') defined. by the initial values
P(0) = P(1) = P(2) = 1,
and the recurrence relation
P(n) = P(n-2)+P(n-3).
The first few values of ''P''(''n'') are
...
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
In probability theory, an event is said to happen almost surely (sometimes abbreviated as a.s.) if it happens with probability 1 (with respect to the probability measure). In other words, the set of outcomes on which the event does not occur ha ...
grows exponentially
Exponential growth occurs when a quantity grows as an exponential function of time. The quantity grows at a rate directly proportional to its present size. For example, when it is 3 times as big as it is now, it will be growing 3 times as fast ...
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
In recreational mathematics, a Keith number or repfigit number (short for repetitive Fibonacci-like digit) is a natural number n in a given number base b with k digits such that when a sequence is created such that the first k terms are the k d ...
, 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:
:14, 19, 28, 47, 61, 75, 197, 742, 1104, 1537, 2208, 2580, 3684, 4788, 7385, 7647, 7909, …
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
In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set (mathematics), set whose elements, often called vector (mathematics and physics), ''vectors'', can be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called sc ...
. Any such sequence is uniquely determined by a choice of two elements, so the vector space is two-
dimensional
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coordi ...
. 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 (where is a positive
rational number
In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (for example,
The set of all ...
): 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 bisection of odd-indexed terms
therefore verifies
and is
strictly increasing
In mathematical writing, the term strict refers to the property of excluding equality and equivalence and often occurs in the context of inequality and monotonic functions. It is often attached to a technical term to indicate that the exclusiv ...
. It yields the set of the ''semi-Fibonacci numbers''
: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 16, 17, 23, 26, 35, 37, 48, 53, 69, 70, 87, 93, 116, 119, 145, 154, ...
which occur as
References
External links
*
{{Fibonacci
Fibonacci numbers