Fibonacci Sequence

The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ... The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it.

The 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1) Similarly, the 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+2), And the 5 is (2+3), and so on! Example: the next number in the sequence above would be 21+34 = 55

It is that simple! Here is a longer list: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181, 6765, 10946, 17711, 28657, 46368, 75025, 121393, 196418, 317811, ... Can you figure out the next few numbers? The Rule The Fibonacci Sequence can be written as a "Rule" (see Sequences and Series): The Rule is xn = xn-1 + xn-2 where:

xn is term number "n" xn-1 is the previous term (n-1) xn-2 is the term before that (n-2)

The terms are numbered form 0 onwards like this: n= xn = 0 0 1 1 2 1 3 2 4 3 5 5 6 8 7 13 8 21 9 34 10 55 11 89 12 13 14 ... ...

144 233 377

Example: term 6 would be calculated like this: x6 = x6-1 + x6-2 = x5 + x4 = 5 + 3 = 8

Golden Ratio And here is a surprise. If you take any two successive (one after the other)Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio "" which is approximately 1.618034... In fact, the bigger the pair of Fibonacci Numbers, the closer the approximation. Let us try a few: A 2 3 5 8 ... 144 233 ... B 3 5 8 13 ... 233 377 ... B/A 1.5 1.666666666... 1.6 1.625 ... 1.618055556... 1.618025751... ...

Note: this also works if you pick two random whole numbers to begin the sequence, such as 192 and 16 (you would get the sequence 192, 16, 208, 224, 432, 656, 1088, 1744, 2832, 4576, 7408, 11984, 19392, 31376, ...): A B 192 16 16 208 208 224 224 432 ... ... 7408 11984 11984 19392 ... ... B/A 0.08333333... 13 1.07692308... 1.92857143... ... 1.61771058... 1.61815754... ...

It takes longer to get good values, but it shows you that it is not just the Fibonacci Sequence that can do this! Using The Golden Ratio to Calculate Fibonacci Numbers And even more surprising is this formula for calculating any Fibonacci Number using the Golden Ratio:

The answer always comes out as a whole number, exactly equal to the addition of the previous two terms.

Example:

When I used a calculator on this (only entering the Golden Ratio to 6 decimal places) I got the answer 8.00000033. A more accurate calculation would be closer to 8. Try it for yourself!

Terms Below Zero The sequence can be extended backwards! Like this: n= xn = ... ... -6 -8 -5 5 -4 -3 -3 2 -2 -1 -1 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 3 2 4 3 5 5 6 8 ... ...

(Prove to yourself that adding the previous two terms together still works!) In fact the sequence below zero has the same numbers as the sequence above zero, except they follow a +-+- ... pattern. It can be written like this: xn = (1)n+1 xn Which says that term "-n" is equal to (1)n+1 times term "n", and the value (1)n+1 neatly makes the correct 1,-1,1,-1,... pattern. About Fibonacci The Man His real name was Leonardo Pisano Bogollo, and he lived between 1170 and 1250 in Italy. "Fibonacci" was his nickname, which roughly means "Son of Bonacci". As well as being famous for the Fibonacci Sequence, he helped spread through Europe the use of Hindu-Arabic Numerals (like our present number system 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) to replace Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, etc). That has saved us all a lot of trouble! Thank you Leonardo. Binomial theorem From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The binomial coefficients appear as the entries of Pascal's triangle. In elementary algebra, the binomial theorem describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial. According to the theorem, it is possible to expand the power (x + y)n into a sum involving terms of the form axbyc, where the exponents b and c are nonnegative integers with b + c = n, and the coefficient a of each term is a specific positive integer depending on n and b. When an exponent is zero, the corresponding power is usually omitted from the term. For example,

The coefficient a in the term of xbyc is known as the binomial coefficient in combinatorics, where element set. History

or

(the two have the same value).

These coefficients for varying nand b can be arranged to form Pascal's triangle. These numbers also arise gives the number of different combinationsof b elements that can be chosen from an n-

This formula and the triangular arrangement of the binomial coefficients are often attributed to Blaise Pascal, who described them in the 17th century, but they were known to many mathematicians who preceded him. The 4th century B.C. Greek mathematician Euclid mentioned the special case of the binomial theorem for exponent 2[1][2] as did the 3rd century B.C.Indian mathematician Pingala to higher orders. A more general binomial theorem and the so-called "Pascal's triangle" were known in the 10th-century A.D. to Indian mathematicianHalayudha and Persian mathematician Al-Karaji,[3], in the 11th century to Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam[4], and in the 13th century to Chinese mathematician Yang Hui, who all derived similar results.[5] Al-Karaji also provided a mathematical proof of both the binomial theorem and Pascal's triangle, using mathematical induction.[3] Statement of the theorem According to the theorem, it is possible to expand any power of x + y into a sum of the form

where each is a specific positive integer known as binomial coefficient. This formula is also referred to as the Binomial Formula or the Binomial Identity. Using summation notation, it can be written as

The final expression follows from the previous one by the symmetry of x and y in the first expression, and by comparison it follows that the sequence of binomial coefficients in the formula is symmetrical. A variant of the binomial formula is obtained by substituting 1 for y, so that it involves only a single variable. In this form, the formula reads

or equivalently

Examples

Pascal's triangle The most basic example of the binomial theorem is the formula for the square of x + y:

The binomial coefficients 1, 2, 1 appearing in this expansion correspond to the third row of Pascal's triangle. The coefficients of higher powers of x + y correspond to later rows of the triangle:

Notice that 1. the powers of x go down until it reaches 0 (x0 = 1),starting value is n (the n in (x + y)n.) 2. the powers of y go up from 0 (y0 = 1) until it reaches n (also the n in (x + y)n.) 3. the nth row of the Pascal's Triangle will be the coefficients of the expanded binomial.(Note that the top is row 0.) 4. the number of products is equal to (2)n.

5. the number of product groups is equal to n + 1. The binomial theorem can be applied to the powers of any binomial. For example,

For a binomial involving subtraction, the theorem can be applied as long as the opposite of the second term is used. This has the effect of changing the sign of every other term in the expansion: Geometric explanation

For positive values of a and b, the binomial theorem with n = 2 is the geometrically evident fact that a square of side a + b can be cut into a square of side a, a square of side b, and two rectangles with sides a and b. With n = 3, the theorem states that a cube of side a + b can be cut into a cube of side a, a cube of side b, three aab rectangular boxes, and three abb rectangular boxes. In calculus, this picture also gives a geometric proof of the derivative (xn)' = nxn 1:[6] if one sets a = x and b = x, interpreting bas an infinitesimal change in a, then this picture shows the infinitesimal change in the volume of an ndimensional hypercube,(x + x)n, where the coefficient of the linear term (in x) is nxn 1, the area of the n faces, each of dimension (n 1):

Substituting this into the definition of the derivative via a difference quotient and taking limits means that the higher order terms (x)2 and higher become negligible, and yields the formula (xn)' = nxn 1, interpreted as "the infinitesimal change in volume of an n-cube as side length varies is the area of n of its (n 1)-dimensional faces". If one integrates this picture, which corresponds to applying the fundamental theorem of calculus, one obtains Cavalieri's quadrature formula, the integral formula for details.[6] The binomial coefficients Main article: Binomial coefficient The coefficients that appear in the binomial expansion are called binomial coefficients. These are usually written pronounced n choose k. Formulas The coefficient of xnkyk is given by the formula , and see proof of Cavalieri's quadrature

, which is defined in terms of the factorial function n!. Equivalently, this formula can be written

with k factors in both the numerator and denominator of the fraction. Note that, although this formula involves a fraction, the binomial coefficient Combinatorial interpretation The binomial coefficient can be interpreted as the number of ways to choose k elements from an n-element set. This is related to binomials for the following reason: if we write (x + y)n as a product is actually an integer.

then, according to the distributive law, there will be one term in the expansion for each choice of either x or y from each of the binomials of the product. For example, there will only be one term xn, corresponding to choosing 'x from each binomial. However, there will be several terms of the form xn2y2, one for each way of choosing exactly two binomials to contribute a y. Therefore, after combining like terms, the coefficient of xn2y2 will be equal to the number of ways to choose exactly 2 elements from an n-element set. Proofs

Combinatorial proof Example The coefficient of xy2 in

equals

because there are three x,y strings of length 3 with exactly two y's, namely,

corresponding to the three 2-element subsets of { 1, 2, 3 }, namely,

where each subset specifies the positions of the y in a corresponding string. [edit]General case Expanding (x + y)n yields the sum of the 2 n products of the form e1e2 ... e n where each e i is x or y. Rearranging factors shows that each product equals xnkyk for some k between 0 and n. For a given k, the following are proved equal in succession:

the number of copies of xn kyk in the expansion the number of n-character x,y strings having y in exactly k positions the number of k-element subsets of { 1, 2, ..., n} (this is either by definition, or by a short combinatorial argument if one is defining as ).

This proves the binomial theorem. [edit]Inductive proof Induction yields another proof of the binomial theorem (1). When n = 0, both sides equal 1, since x0 = 1 for all nonzero x and . Now suppose that (1) holds for a given n; we will prove it for n + 1. For j, k 0, let [(x, y)] jk denote the coefficient of xjyk in the polynomial (x, y). By the inductive hypothesis, (x + y)n is a polynomial in x and y such that [(x + y)n] jkis if j + k = n, and 0 otherwise. The identity

shows that (x + y)n+1 also is a polynomial in x and y, and

If j + k = n + 1, then (j 1) + k = n and j + (k 1) = n, so the right hand side is

by Pascal's identity. On the other hand, if j +k n + 1, then (j 1) + k n and j +(k 1) n, so we get 0 + 0 = 0. Thus

which is the inductive hypothesis with n + 1 substituted for n and so completes the inductive step. Generalisations [edit]Newton's generalised binomial theorem Main article: Binomial series Around 1665, Isaac Newton generalised the formula to allow real exponents other than nonnegative integers, and in fact it can be generalised further, to complex exponents. In this generalisation, the finite sum is replaced by an infinite series. In order to do this one needs to give meaning to binomial coefficients with an arbitrary upper index, which cannot be done using the above formula with factorials; however factoring out (nk)! from numerator and denominator in that formula, and replacing n by r which now stands for an arbitrary number, one can define

where is the Pochhammer symbol here standing for a falling factorial. Then, if x and y are real numbers with |x| > |y|,[7] and r is any complex number, one has

When r is a nonnegative integer, the binomial coefficients for k > r are zero, so (2) specializes to (1), and there are at most r + 1 nonzero terms. For other values of r, the series (2) has infinitely many nonzero terms, at least if x and y are nonzero. This is important when one is working with infinite series and would like to represent them in terms of generalised hypergeometric functions. Taking r = s leads to a useful but non-obvious formula:

Further specializing to s = 1 yields the geometric series formula.

[edit]Generalisations Formula (2) can be generalised to the case where x and y are complex numbers. For this version, one should assume |x| > |y|[7] and define the powers of x + y and x using a holomorphicbranch of log defined on an open disk of radius |x| centered at x. Formula (2) is valid also for elements x and y of a Banach algebra as long as xy = yx, x is invertible, and ||y/x|| < 1. [edit]The multinomial theorem Main article: Multinomial theorem The binomial theorem can be generalised to include powers of sums with more than two terms. The general version is

where the summation is taken over all sequences of nonnegative integer indices k1 through km such that the sum of all ki is n. (For each term in the expansion, the exponents must add up to n). The coefficients are known as multinomial coefficients, and can be computed by the formula

Combinatorially, the multinomial coefficient counts the number of different ways to partition an n-element set into disjoint subsets of sizes k1, ..., kn. [edit]The multi-binomial theorem It is often useful when working in more dimensions, to deal with products of binomial expressions. By the binomial theorem this is equal to

This may be written more concisely, by multi-index notation, as

Applications [edit]Multiple angle identities For the complex numbers the binomial theorem can be combined with De Moivre's formula to yield multiple-angle formulas for the sine and cosine. According to De Moivre's formula,

Using the binomial theorem, the expression on the right can be expanded, and then the real and imaginary parts can be taken to yield formulas for cos(nx) and sin(nx). For example, since

De Moivre's formula tells us that

which are the usual double-angle identities. Similarly, since

De Moivre's formula yields

In general,

and

[edit]Series for e The number e is often defined by the formula

Applying the binomial theorem to this expression yields the usual infinite series for e. In particular:

The kth term of this sum is

As n , the rational expression on the right approaches one, and therefore

This indicates that e can be written as a series:

Indeed, since each term of the binomial expansion is an increasing function of n, it follows from the monotone convergence theorem for series that the sum of this infinite series is equal to e. harmonic sequence Also called a harmonic progression, a sequence of the form: 1/a, 1/(a + d), 1/(a + 2d), ..., 1(a + (n - 1)d), the terms being the reciprocals of those in an arithmetic sequence. There is no simple expression for the sum of a harmonic progression. The harmonic mean of two terms, as and ax+2 is given by 2asas+2/(as + as+2) = as+1. Consider the sequence: 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5... Added together, these become the terms of the harmonic series: 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5 +... This series diverges (has no finite sum), though very slowly a result first proved by the French philosopher and theologian, Nicole Oresme (c.13251382). In fact, it still diverges if you take away every other term, and even if you take away nine out of every ten terms. However, if you take the sum of reciprocals of all natural numbers that do not contain the number nine (when written in decimal expansion) the series converges! To show this, group the terms based on the number of digits in their denominator. There are 8 terms in (1/1 + ... + 1/8), each of which is no larger than 1. Consider the next group (1/10 + ... + 1/88). The number of terms is at most the number of ways to choose two ordered digits out of the digits 0 ... 8, and each such term is clearly no larger than 1/10. So this group's sum is no larger than 9 2/10. Similarly, the sum of the terms in (1/100 + ... + 1/999) is at most 93/102, etc. So the entire sum is no larger than 9 1 + 9 (9/10) + 9 (92/102) + ... + 9 (9n/10n) + ... This is a geometric series that converges. Thus by the comparison test, the original sum (which is smaller term-by-term) must converge. Pascal's Triangle One of the most interesting Number Patterns is Pascal's Triangle (named after Blaise Pascal, a famous French Mathematician and Philosopher). To build the triangle, start with "1" at the top, then continue placing numbers below it in a triangular pattern. Each number is just the two numbers above it added together (except for the edges, which are all "1"). (Here I have highlighted that 1+3 = 4)

Patterns Within the Triangle

Diagonals The first diagonal is, of course, just "1"s, and the next diagonal has the Counting Numbers (1,2,3, etc). The third diagonal has the triangular numbers (The fourth diagonal, not highlighted, has thetetrahedral numbers.)

Odds and Evens If you color the Odd and Even numbers, you end up with a pattern the same as the Sierpinski Triangle

Horizontal Sums What do you notice about the horizontal sums? Is there a pattern? Isn't it amazing! It doubles each time (powers of 2).

Exponents of 11 Each line is also the powers (exponents) of 11:

110=1 (the first line is just a "1") 111=11 (the second line is "1" and "1") 112=121 (the third line is "1", "2", "1") etc!

But what happens with 115 ? Simple! The digits just overlap, like this:

The same thing happens with 116 etc.

Fibonacci Sequence Try this: make a pattern by going up and then along, then add up the values (as illustrated) ... you will get the Fibonacci Sequence. (The Fibonacci Sequence starts "1, 1" and then continues by adding the two previous numbers, for example 3+5=8, then 5+8=13, etc)

Symmetrical And the triangle is also symmetrical. The numbers on the left side have identical matching numbers on the right side, like a mirror image.

Using Pascal's Triangle Heads and Tails Pascal's Triangle can show you how many ways heads and tails can combine. This can then show you "the odds" (or probability) of any combination. For example, if you toss a coin three times, there is only one combination that will give you three heads (HHH), but there are three that will give two heads and one tail (HHT, HTH, THH), also three that give one head and two tails (HTT, THT, TTH) and one for all Tails (TTT). This is the pattern "1,3,3,1" in Pascal's Triangle. Tosses 1 Possible Results (Grouped) H T HH HT TH TT HHH HHT, HTH, THH HTT, THT, TTH TTT HHHH HHHT, HHTH, HTHH, THHH HHTT, HTHT, HTTH, THHT, THTH, TTHH HTTT, THTT, TTHT, TTTH TTTT ... etc ... Pascal's Triangle 1, 1

1, 2, 1

1, 3, 3, 1

1, 4, 6, 4, 1

Example: What is the probability of getting exactly two heads with 4 coin tosses? There are 1+4+6+4+1 = 16 (or 24=16) possible results, and 6 of them give exactly two heads. So the probability is 6/16, or 37.5% Combinations The triangle also shows you how many Combinations of objects are possible. Example: You have 16 pool balls. How many different ways could you choose just 3 of them (ignoring the order that you select them)? Answer: go down to row 16 (the top row is 0), and then along 3 places and the value there is your answer, 560. Here is an extract at row 16: 1 14 91 364 ... 1 15 105 455 1365 ... 1 16 120 560 1820 4368 ...

A Formula for Any Entry in The Triangle In fact there is a formula from Combinations for working out the value at any place in Pascal's triangle:

It is commonly called "n choose k" and written like this:

Notation: "n choose k" can also be written C(n,k), nCk or even nCk.

The "!" is "factorial" and means to multiply a series of descending natural numbers. Examples:

4! = 4 3 2 1 = 24 7! = 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 = 5040 1! = 1

So Pascal's Triangle could also be an "n choose k" triangle like this: (Note that the top row is row zero)

Example: Row 4, term 2 in Pascal's Triangle is "6" ... ... let's see if the formula works:

Yes, it works! Try another value for yourself. This can be very useful ... you can now work out any value in Pascal's Triangle directly (without calculating the whole triangle above it).

Polynomials Pascal's Triangle can also show you the coefficients in binomial expansion: Power 2 3 4 Binomial Expansion (x + 1)2 = 1x2 + 2x + 1 (x + 1)3 = 1x3 + 3x2 + 3x + 1 (x + 1)4 = 1x4 + 4x3 + 6x2 + 4x + 1 ... etc ... Pascal's Triangle 1, 2, 1 1, 3, 3, 1 1, 4, 6, 4, 1

The First 15 Lines For reference, I have included row 0 to 14 of Pascal's Triangle

1 1 1 1 1 4 3 2 3 1 1 1

6 4 1 1 5 10 10 5 1 1 6 15 20 15 6 1 1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1 1 8 28 56 70 56 28 8 1 1 9 36 84 126 126 84 36 9 1 1 10 45 120 210 252 210 120 45 10 1 1 11 55 165 330 462 462 330 165 55 11 1 1 12 66 220 495 792 924 792 495 220 66 12 1 1 13 78 286 715 1287 1716 1716 1287 715 286 78 13 1 1 14 91 364 1001 2002 3003 3432 3003 2002 1001 364 91 14 1

The Chinese Knew About It This drawing is entitled "The Old Method Chart of the Seven Multiplying Squares". View Full Image It is from the front of Chu Shi-Chieh's book "Ssu Yuan Y Chien" (Precious Mirror of the Four Elements), written in AD 1303 (over 700 years ago, and more than 300 years before Pascal!), and in the book it says the triangle was known about more than two centuries before that.

The Quincunx An amazing little machine created by Sir Francis Galton is a Pascal's Triangle made out of pegs. It is called The Quincunx. Balls are dropped onto the first peg and then bounce down to the bottom of the triangle where they collect in little bins.

At first it looks completely random (and it is), but then you find the balls pile up in a nice pattern: the Normal Distribution.