On the Lucas sequence equation $$\frac{1}{U_n}=\sum _{k=1}^{\infty }\frac{U_{k-1}}{x^k}$$

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On the Lucas sequence equation

1 Un

=

∞

Uk−1 k=1 x k

Szabolcs Tengely1

© Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2015

Abstract In 1953 Stancliff noted an interesting property of the Fibonacci number F11 = 89. One has that 1 1 2 3 5 0 1 = + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + ..., 89 10 10 10 10 10 10 where in the numerators the elements of the Fibonacci sequence appear. We provide methods to determine similar identities in case of Lucas sequences. As an example we prove that ∞

 Uk 1 1 = = , U10 416020 647k+1 k=0

where U0 = 0, U1 = 1 and Un = 4Un−1 + Un−2 , n ≥ 2. Keywords

Lucas sequences · Diophantine equations · Elliptic curves

Mathematics Subject Classification

Primary 11D25 · Secondary 11B39

1 Introduction Stancliff [16] noted without proof an interesting property of the Fibonacci sequence Fn . One has that ∞

 Fk 1 1 = 0.0112358 . . . = = . F11 89 10k+1 k=0

B 1

Szabolcs Tengely [email protected] Mathematical Institute, University of Derecen, P.O.Box 12, Debrecen 4010, Hungary

123

Sz. Tengely

In 1980 Winans [23] investigated the related sums ∞  Fαk 10k+1 k=0

for certain values of α. In 1981 Hudson and Winans [8] provided a complete characterization of all decimal fractions that can be approximated by sums of the type n 1  Fαk , α, l ≥ 1. Fα 10l(k+1) k=1

Long [12] proved a general identity for binary recurrence sequences from which one obtains e.g. ∞

 Fk 1 = , 9899 102(k+1) k=0



 1 Fk = . 109 (−10)k+1 k=0

In the previous examples decimal fractions were studied, in case of different bases characterizations were obtained by Jia Sheng Lee [10] and by Köhler [9] and by Jin Zai Lee and Jia Sheng Lee [11]. Here we state a result by Köhler that we will use later in this article. Theorem 1.1 Let A, B, a0 , a1 be arbitrary complex numbers. Define the sequence {an } by the recursion an+1 = Aan + Ban−1 . Then the formula ∞  ak a0 x − Aa0 + a1 = 2 k+1 x x − Ax − B k=0

holds for all complex x such that |x| is larger than the absolute values of the zeros of x 2 − Ax − B. Let P and Q be non-zero relatively prime integers. The Lucas sequence {Un (P, Q)} is defined by U0 = 0, U1 = 1

Un = PUn−1 − QUn−2 ,

and

if n ≥ 2.

In this paper we deal with the determination of all integers x ≥ 2 for which there exists an n ≥ 0 such that ∞  1 Uk−1 = , (1.1) Un xk k=1

where Un is a Lucas sequence with some given P and Q. In case of P = 1, Q = −1 one gets the Fibonacci sequence. De Weger [5] computed all x ≥ 2 in case of the Fibonacci sequence, the solutions are as follows ∞

1 1 1  Fk−1 = = = , F1 F2 1 2k k=1

1 1 = = F10 55

∞  k=1

Fk−1 , 8k



1 1  Fk−1 = = , F5 5 3k

1 1 = = F11 89

k=1 ∞  Fk−1 . 10k k=1

De Weger applied arguments of algebraic number theory and obtained two Thue equations, which were solved using Baker’s method (see e.g. [2,7,15]). In the current work, we show

123

On the Lucas sequence equation...

 Uk−1 how to reduce a search for integral x ≥ 2 related to the equation U1n = ∞ k=1 x k to elliptic Diophantine equations or to Thue equations following an elementary argument by Alekseyev an