Sum involving Binomial numbers and Fibonacci numbers

fibonacci-numbersinduction

I am trying to prove the following identity using induction:
$$ \sum_{j=1}^{n}{n\choose j}F_{2n+1-j}=F_{2n+1}-1 $$
I tried expanding the sum using Pascal's identity (or Stifel's relation) and the recurrence formula for Fibonacci numbers.The formula seems to be wrong, so I guess it should be an alternating sum.How can I prove this using the methods above?

Best Answer

$F_k=\frac{a^k-b^k}{\sqrt{5}}, a+b=1, ab=-1,a^2=a+1, b^2=b+1 $. These relations will be used frequently below. Then $$S_n=\sum_{j=1}^{n} F_{2n+1-j}~ {n \choose j}= \sum_{j=0}^{n} \frac{a^{2n+1-j}-b^{2n+1-j}}{\sqrt{5}} {n \choose j}.$$ Use binomial summation: $$\sum_{j=1}^{n} {n \choose k} a^{-j}=(1+1/a)^n-1$$ $$\implies S_n=\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}} [ a^{2n+1} ((1+1/a)^n-1)-b^{2n+1} ((1+1/b)^n-1)]$$ $$\implies S_n=\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}\left [a^{2n+1}(1-b)^n-b^{2n+1}(1-a)^n]-[a^{2n+1}-b^{2n+1}]\right]$$ $$\implies S_n=\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}[(a)^{3n+1}-(a)^{3n+1} ]-F_{2n+1}= F_{3n+1}-F_{2n+1}~~~(*)$$ We get a different result from that of OP. Our result can be checked numerically by hand or at Mathematica.

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