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The evaluation,

$\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{F_{2^n}}=\frac{7-\sqrt{5}}{2}=\left(\frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2}\right)^3+\left(\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}\right)^2$

was recently asked in a post by Chris here.

I like generalizations, and it turns out this is not a unique feature of the Fibonacci numbers. If we use the Pell numbers $P_m = 1,2,5,12,29,70,\dots$ then the sum is also an algebraic number of deg 2. In general, it seems for any positive rational b, then,

$\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{\frac{1}{\sqrt{b^2+4}}\left( \left(\frac{b+\sqrt{b^2+4}}{2}\right)^{2^n}-\left(\frac{b-\sqrt{b^2+4}}{2}\right)^{2^n}\right)}=1+\frac{2}{b}+\frac{b-\sqrt{b^2+4}}{2}$

where Fibonacci numbers are just the case b = 1, the Pell numbers b = 2, and so on. (For negative rational b, then one just uses the positive case of $\pm\sqrt{b^2+4}$.)

Anyone knows how to prove/disprove the conjectured evaluation?

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    Oops,you are right. I've corrected the typo.2012-06-13

1 Answers 1

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Your conjecture is indeed right. Before proving your conjecture, let us obtain an intermediate result first. Let us prove the following claim first.


CLAIM:

If we have a sequence given by the recurrence, $a_{n+2} = ba_{n+1} + a_n,$ with $a_0 =0 $ and $a_1 = 1$, we then have $\boxed{\color{blue}{\displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^{N} \dfrac1{a_{2^k}} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{a_{2^N-1}}{a_{2^N}}}}$


Proof: Let us write out a few terms of this sequence, we get $a_0 = 0, a_1 = 1, a_2 = b, a_3 = b^2 + 1, a_4 = b^3 + 2b, \cdots$ The proof is by induction on $N$. For $N=1$, we have the left hand side to be $\dfrac1{a_1} + \dfrac1{a_2} = 1 + \dfrac1b$ while the right hand side is $1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{a_1}{a_2} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac1{b} = 1 + \dfrac1b$ For $N=2$, we have the left hand side to be $\dfrac1{a_1} + \dfrac1{a_2} + \dfrac1{a_4} = 1 + \dfrac1b + \dfrac1{b^3 + 2b}$ while the right hand side is $1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{a_3}{a_4} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{b^2+1}{b^3+2b} = 1 + \dfrac1b + \dfrac1b - \dfrac{b^2+1}{b^3+2b} = 1 + \dfrac1b + \dfrac1{b^3+2b}$ Hence, it holds for $N=1$ and $N=2$. Now lets go ahead with induction now. Assume the result is true for $N=m$ i.e. we have $\sum_{k=0}^{m} \dfrac1{a_{2^k}} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{a_{2^m-1}}{a_{2^m}}$ Now $\sum_{k=0}^{m+1} \dfrac1{a_{2^k}} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{a_{2^m-1}}{a_{2^m}} + \dfrac1{a_{2^{m+1}}}$ Hence, we want to show that $ - \dfrac{a_{2^m-1}}{a_{2^m}} + \dfrac1{a_{2^{m+1}}} = -\dfrac{a_{2^{m+1}-1}}{a_{2^{m+1}}}$ i.e. $\dfrac1{a_{2^{m+1}}} + \dfrac{a_{2^{m+1}-1}}{a_{2^{m+1}}} = \dfrac{a_{2^m-1}}{a_{2^m}}$ i.e. $a_{2^m}(1+a_{2^{m+1}-1}) = a_{2^m-1} a_{2^{m+1}} \,\,\,\, (\star)$ which can be verified using the recurrence. In fact $(\dagger)$, a slightly more general version of $(\star)$, which is easier to check is true. $a_{2k}(1+a_{4k-1}) = a_{2k-1} a_{4k} \,\,\,\, (\dagger)$ i.e. $a_{2k-1} a_{4k} - a_{2k} a_{4k-1} = a_{2k} \,\,\,\, (\dagger)$ Hence, we get that $\boxed{\color{red}{\displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^{N} \dfrac1{a_{2^k}} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \dfrac{a_{2^N-1}}{a_{2^N}}}}$


Now letting $N \to \infty$, we see that your conjecture is indeed right. This is so since from the recurrence we get that $\dfrac{a_{n+2}}{a_{n+1}} = b + \dfrac{a_n}{a_{n+1}}$ If we have $\displaystyle \lim_{n \to \infty} \dfrac{a_n}{a_{n+1}} = L$, then we get that $\dfrac1L = b + L$ and since $L>0$, we have $L = \dfrac{\sqrt{b^2+4}-b}2$. Hence, $\boxed{\color{red}{\displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \dfrac1{a_{2^k}} = \lim_{N \to \infty} \displaystyle \sum_{k=0}^{N} \dfrac1{a_{2^k}} = 1 + \dfrac2b - \lim_{N \to \infty} \dfrac{a_{2^N-1}}{a_{2^N}} = 1 + \dfrac2b - L = 1 + \dfrac2b + \dfrac{b}2 -\dfrac{\sqrt{b^2+4}}2}}$


EDIT

After some googling, I found out that a similar result is true for a more general class of recurrences of the form $a_{n+1} = P a_n + Q a_{n-1}$ See this article for more details.

Also, try googling Millin series for more details.

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    And also for the links. They were most helpful.2013-01-25