[Math] Non integer Fibonacci numbers

fibonacci-numbers

I'm pretty sure we're all familiar with the Fibonacci sequence. Most people with more than passing knowledge of this most marvelous gem are aware of the Binet formula, $Fib(n) = (\varphi^n – (-\varphi)^n)/\sqrt{5}$. Unfortunately, this doesn't allow me to take, for example, $Fib(5.5) = 16.5$ or something like it, because it would involve taking the square root of a negative number.

I've tried using Excel to plot the graph, but it ends up being a poor approximation for moderately large (30) values of n, and I doubt its accuracy anyway, since taking different ranges from which to compute constants $k_1$ and $k_2$ in the formula $Fib(n) = k_1 * e^{k_2n}$ results in wildly different constants and varying degrees of accuracy.

How can I find the appropriate intermediate values for $Fib(n)$ for non-integer values of $n$? And in the event that I'm asking this wrong (for example, someone might say non-integer values of $Fib(n)$ is nonsensical) then I would kindly request your assistance in phrasing it properly – namely, if I were to plot the Fibonacci numbers on a Cartesian graph, and added a trendline that calculated them all perfectly, how could I acquire the values on the trendline between plot points?

Best Answer

You can actually use the formula $\frac{\varphi^n - (-\varphi)^{-n}}{\sqrt{5}}$ where $\varphi = \frac{1 + \sqrt{5}}{2}$. But for all non integer values you get complex numbers. These numbers are of the form $a + bi$ where a and b are the numbers you're famillar with, and $i$ is a constant defined as $i^2 = -1$ or equivalently $i = \sqrt{-1}$.

You can plot this function:
When you look at the plot, you can see the red line which is the imaginary part of the number, and the imaginary part is zero at all of the integer values, which makes sense since the fibonacci numbers aren't imaginary.

Edit: You can avoid complex numbers by using another formula. $$\frac{\varphi^x - \cos(\pi x)\varphi^{-x}}{\sqrt{5}}$$ When you plot this function, you get:

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