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posted by  Armitage on 11/4/2009 1:54:13 PM  |  status: Closed  |  Earned Karma: 45

Prove Fib. Sequence using induction with GCD.

Course Textbook Chapter Problem Needs by
Discrete Math N/A N/A N/A 11/6/2009 at 9:00:00 AM
Question Details:
Let F(n) denote the n-th term of the Fibonacci Sequence. Prove
using induction that GCD(F(n), F(n − 1)) = 1 for all integers n 2.

Hint :
If a = bq + r, then GCD(a, b) = GCD(b, r).

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posted by A-ManESL on 11/5/2009 1:06:03 AM  |  status: Live
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Response Details:
I will use (a,b) to represent the gcd of a and b and write Fn for F(n).
The hint given is a special case of the non trivial result (a,b) = (a,b+ax) for any x.
The base case n=1 is trivial. Suppose the result holds for n. Now (Fn+1,Fn) = (Fn+Fn-1, Fn) by definition of Fn. Since (a,b) = (b,a) so (Fn+1,Fn) = (Fn+Fn-1, Fn) = (Fn,Fn + Fn-1). Also by putting a =Fn, b = Fn-1 and x = 1 in (a,b) = (a,b+ax) we have (Fn,Fn + Fn-1) = (Fn,Fn-1). By the induction hypothesis (Fn,Fn-1) is 1. So (Fn+1,Fn) =1.
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