[Math] Fibonacci Identity with Binomial Coefficients

binomial-coefficientsfibonacci-numbers

A friend showed me this cool trick: Take any row of Pascal's triangle (say, $n = 7$):
$$1, 7, 21, 35, 35, 21, 7, 1$$
Leave out every other number, starting with the first one:
$$7, 35, 21, 1$$
Then these are backwards base-5 "digits", so calculate:
$$7 + 35 \cdot 5 + 21 \cdot 5^2 + 1 \cdot 5^3 = 7 + 175 + 525 + 125 = 832$$
and divide by $2^{7-1} = 2^6 = 64$:
$$\frac{832}{64} = 13$$
and $F_7 = 13$ (the seventh Fibonacci number)!
He said it works for any $n$. I have worked out that this would be to prove that:
$$\frac{1}{2^{n-1}}\sum_{k = 0}^{\lfloor{\frac{n}{2}}\rfloor}{\left(5^k {n \choose 2k + 1} \right)} = F_n $$
I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Is there a neat combinatoric or easy algebraic proof I am missing? Thanks!

Best Answer

Easy algebraic proof. Just use Binet's formula: $$F_n = \frac{1}{\sqrt{5}} \left( \left(\frac{1 + \sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^n - \left(\frac{1 - \sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^n \right) $$ If you expand the powers using binomial coefficients and simplify, you will see that terms with $\sqrt{5}$ cancel and you should get your desired result exactly!

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