# Difference between revisions of "Fibonacci sequence"

 This is an AoPSWiki Word of the Week for Dec 6-12

The Fibonacci sequence is a sequence of integers in which the first and second term are both equal to 1, and each subsequent term is the sum of the two preceding it. Often, there is a zero-th term added in equal to 0. The first few terms are
$0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55,...$.

The Fibonacci sequence can be written recursively as $F_n=F_{n-1}+F_{n-2}$. There is also an explicit definition below.

## Phi

Ratios between successive terms, $\frac{1}{1}$, $\frac{2}{1}$, $\frac{3}{2}$, $\frac{5}{3}$, $\frac{8}{5}$, tend towards the limit phi.

## Binet's formula

Binet's formula is an explicit formula used to find any nth term. It is $\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}\left(\left(\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}\right)^n-\left(\frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2}\right)^n\right)$.

## Problems

### Introductory

1. The Fibonacci sequence $1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,\ldots$ starts with two 1s, and each term afterwards is the sum of its two predecessors. Which one of the ten digits is the last to appear in the units position of a number in the Fibonacci sequence?

$\mathrm{(A) \ 0 } \qquad \mathrm{(B) \ 4 } \qquad \mathrm{(C) \ 6 } \qquad \mathrm{(D) \ 7 } \qquad \mathrm{(E) \ 9 }$

### Intermediate

1. Seven line segments, with lengths no greater than 10 inches, and no shorter than 1 inch, are given. Show that one can choose three of them to represent the sides of a triangle.
2. Except for the first two terms, each term of the sequence $1000, x, 1000 - x,\ldots$ is obtained by subtracting the preceding term from the one before that. The last term of the sequence is the first negative term encounted. What positive integer $x$ produces a sequence of maximum length?
3. A fair coin is to be tossed $10_{}^{}$ times. Let $i/j^{}_{}$, in lowest terms, be the probability that heads never occur on consecutive tosses. Find $i+j_{}^{}$.
1. Determine the maximum value of $m^2 + n^2$, where $m$ and $n$ are integers satisfying $m, n \in \{ 1,2, \ldots , 1981 \}$ and $( n^2 - mn - m^2 )^2 = 1$.