Mr. Pisano has 3 children. In 2014, they were of ages , and . These numbers are three consecutive . In 2016, they were of ages , and respectively. These numbers are three consecutive .
This gives him an idea:
represents triangular numbers: 1, 3, 6, 10, …
represents Fibonacci numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, …
Let be positive integers . How many different are there such that
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Consider the differences of the first two equations: m + 1 = t m + 1 − t m = f n + 1 − f n = f n − 1
Consider the differences of the last two equations: m + 2 = t m + 2 − t m + 1 = f n + 2 − f n + 1 = f n
Consider the differences of the above two equations: 1 = f n − f n − 1 = f n − 2
Now f 1 = f 2 = 1 = f n − 2 implies that n = 3 or n = 4 .
If n = 3 , the corresponding three consecutive Fibonacci numbers are 2 , 3 , 5 , which the differences for consecutive 2 terms are 1 and 2. And the first few triangular numbers are 1 , 3 , 6 , 1 0 , . . . which the differences for consecutive 2 terms are 2, 3, 4,.... It does not match.
Hence n = 4 . It is easy to verify that ( m , n , k ) = ( 1 , 4 , 2 ) is the only solution. t 1 + 2 t 2 + 2 t 3 + 2 = = = 1 + 2 3 + 2 6 + 2 = = = 3 5 8 = = = f 4 f 5 f 6
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