# SICP Solutions

### Section - Procedures and the Processes They Generate

#### Exercise 1.13

We will prove this by strong induction.

Suppose $n$ is arbitrary integer greater than zero. Suppose theorem is correct for all integers $k \ge 0$ and $% $. We have the following possible cases:

• Case $n = 0$: We have $\frac { {\phi}^n - {\psi}^n } {\sqrt 5} = \frac { {\phi}^0 - {\psi}^0 } {\sqrt 5} = \frac { 1 - 1 } {\sqrt 5} = 0 = fib(0)$. Clearly theorem is correct for $n = 0$.

• Case $n = 1$: For $n = 1$, we have $\frac { {\phi}^n - {\psi}^n } {\sqrt 5} = \frac { {\phi}^1 - {\psi}^1 } {\sqrt 5} = \frac { (1 + \sqrt 5) - (1 - \sqrt 5) } {2 \sqrt 5} = \frac {\sqrt 5} {2 \sqrt 5} = 1 = fib(1)$. Clearly theorem is correct for $n = 1$.

• Case $n \ge 2$: Since theorem is correct for all $% $ where $k \ge 0$, we have:
$fib(n-2) = \frac { {\phi}^{n-2} - {\psi}^{n-2} } {\sqrt 5}$.
$fib(n-1) = \frac { {\phi}^{n-1} - {\psi}^{n-1} } {\sqrt 5}$.
Now consider $fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)$:
$= { \frac { {\phi}^{n-2} - {\psi}^{n-2} } {\sqrt 5} } + { \frac { {\phi}^{n-1} - {\psi}^{n-1} } {\sqrt 5} }$.
$= { \frac 1 {\sqrt 5} } ( ({\phi}^{n-2} + {\phi}^{n-1}) - ({\psi}^{n-2} + {\psi}^{n-1}) )$.
$= { \frac 1 {\sqrt 5} } ( {\phi}^{n-2} \cdot ( 1 + \phi ) - {\psi}^{n-2} \cdot ( 1 + \psi ) )$.
We know that $1 + \phi = {\phi}^2$ and $1 + \psi = {\psi}^2$:
Thus we get: $= {\frac 1 {\sqrt 5} } ( {\phi}^{n-2} \cdot {\phi}^2 - {\psi}^{n-2} \cdot {\psi}^2 )$.
$= {\frac 1 {\sqrt 5} } ( {\phi}^{n} - {\psi}^{n} )$.
$= \frac { {\phi}^n - {\psi}^n } {\sqrt 5}$.
$= fib(n)$

Thus theorem is correct for $n \ge 2$.

Thus for all the cases we can conclude that theorem is correct for all $n$.