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I was studying Mathematical Induction when I came across the following problem:

The Fibonacci numbers are the sequence of numbers defined by the linear recurrence equation-

$f_n = f_{n-1} + f_{n-2} $ with $f_1 = f_2 = 1$

Use induction to show that $f_n \; | \; f_{2n}$ ($f_n$ divides $f_{2n}$)

Basis Step is obviously true; but I'm facing difficulty in the Inductive Step. If I assume the inductive hypothesis to be true for some $k$, i.e., $ \dfrac{ f_{2k} } { f_{k} } = c$ (For some positive integer $c > 0$), I'm not clear as to how I should proceed further and prove that $P(2k+1)$ is also true.

I'm new here, so if I'm doing anything wrong, please overlook it on the account of my naivety.

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Try looking at some small examples to see what's going on — sometimes you have to strengthen your induction hypothesis and prove a stronger statement. (And also, there are easy ways of proving this statement without induction of course, but in this context I guess what you want/need is a proof by induction.) – ShreevatsaR Sep 8 '13 at 13:43
@Tarun, please correct the typo where I wrote $\dfrac{ f_{2k} } { f_{2k} } = c$ instead of $\dfrac{ f_{2k} } { f_{k} } = c$. I am not able to edit since the edit requires 6 characters to be changed at least. – Parth Thakkar Sep 8 '13 at 13:44
I don't think that works. The edit checks the stuff that has changed. Retyping won't help (as far as I know). – Parth Thakkar Sep 8 '13 at 13:46

2 Answers 2

up vote 6 down vote accepted

From the start, there isn't a clear statement to induct on. As such, you have to guess the induction hypothesis, and find an explicit pattern which you could describe.

Hint: Look at the sequence of values of $\frac{f_{2k}}{f_k}$. Do you see a pattern there? That suggests to prove the following fact:

$$ \frac{f_{2k+2}} { f_{k+1} } = \frac{f_{2k} } { f_k } + \frac{f_{2k-2} } {f_{k-1} } $$

Check that the first two terms of this series $g_n = \frac{f_{2n}}{f_n}$ are integers, hence conclude by induction that every term is an integer.

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The question is old, Calvin Lin's answer is great and already accepted but here is another method (for the famous sake of completess):

We know that $f_n \wedge f_m=f_{n\wedge m}$, where $a\wedge b$ is the gcd of $a$ and $b$. So $f_n \wedge f_{2n}=f_{n\ \wedge\ 2n}=f_n$. This means that $f_n$ divides $f_{2n}$.

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