A General Approach to Proving Properties of Fibonacci Representations via Automata Theory

Jeffrey Shallit
(University of Waterloo)
Sonja Linghui Shan
(University of Waterloo)

We provide a method, based on automata theory, to mechanically prove the correctness of many numeration systems based on Fibonacci numbers. With it, long case-based and induction-based proofs of correctness can be replaced by simply constructing a regular expression (or finite automaton) specifying the rules for valid representations, followed by a short computation. Examples of the systems that can be handled using our technique include Brown's lazy representation (1965), the far-difference representation developed by Alpert (2009), and three representations proposed by Hajnal (2023). We also provide three additional systems and prove their validity.

In Zsolt Gazdag, Szabolcs Iván and Gergely Kovásznai: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Automata and Formal Languages (AFL 2023), Eger, Hungary, September 5-7, 2023, Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science 386, pp. 228–242.
Published: 3rd September 2023.

ArXived at: https://dx.doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.386.18 bibtex PDF
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