As a start it helps to convert the Fibonacci sequence
into a sequence of remainders. The remainders on division by 2 are : 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1 The remainders on division by 3 are : 1, 1, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0 Each term is produced by adding together the two preceding terms, and keeping in mind that these are remainders after division.So once a pair of consecutive terms appear a second time the sequence must repeat from then on. The multiples of 2 (or 3) in the original occur where the term is zero in the remainders sequence.
Thank you Andrei from School No. 205 in Bucharest,
Romania for taking this further with a more algebraic solution.
First I wrote the Fibonacci numbers up to
, as calculated
from the recurrence relation in the problem. Here they are:
I observed that
and
are even. Up to
here,
is even when
is a multiple of 3. I must prove that
such a pattern continues.
I also observed that
and
are multiples of 3.
I could deduce that
is a multiple of 3 when
is a
multiple of 4.
Now, I must prove the conjectures that I observed. I shall prove
them both by induction.
1)
- even
as calculated before. Let
be a positive integer. I
consider that
is even. I must prove that
is
also even. From the definition of the Fibonacci Sequence, I
obtain:
Here,
is divisible by 2, and, from my hypothesis,
is also divisible by 2. So,
is divisible by 2.
Hence, by the axiom of induction,
is even if
is a
multiple of 3.
2)
- multiple of 3
Let
be a positive integer. I consider that
is a
multiple of 3. I shall prove now that
is a multiple of
3:
In this case
is divisible by 3, and so is
(from my hypothesis). I must also say that
, which is a
multiple of 3. Hence by the axiom of induction
is a multiple
of 3 if
is a multiple of 4.
Editor's note: We should still show that these are the only
Fibonnaci numbers divisible by 3 to prove the 'only if' condition.
If any two consecutive Fibonacci numbers have a common factor (say
3) then every Fibonacci number must have that factor. This is
clearly not the case so no two consecutive Fibonacci numbers can
have a common factor. If
and
are both multiples of
3 then
must also be a multiple of 3 and hence all
Fibonacci numbers will be multiples of 3 which is not the case.
This shows that if
and
are multiples of 3 then no
Fibonacci numbers between them can be multiples of 3, that is
is divisible by 3 only if
is a multiple of 4.