Generalization of Fibonacci Sequence

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Abstract. In this paper, we study a generalized notion of Fibonacci

words and show that all the existing variations of Fibonacci words and
special cases. We then define a new particular case, called as ”Watson-
Crick” Fibonacci words and study various properties of such words.

We now define the notion of Generalized Fibonacci sequence in the following.

Definition 1. Let Σ be a finite non-empty alphabet set and let hi : Σ ∗ 7→ Σ ∗ ,

1 ≤ i ≤ m + 1 be homomorphisms, and let ’⋆’ denote a binary operation. Then
the generalized Fibonacci sequence is defined as: Given f1 , · · · , fm , we give two
types of generalized Fibonacci sequences,
1. f1 , f2 , · · · , fm and fn+1 = ((· · · (h1 (fn )⋆h2 (fn−1 ))⋆h3 (fn−2 ))⋆· · ·⋆hm (fn−(m−1) ))
for n ≥ m.
′
2. f1′ , f2′ , · · · fm ′
, and fn+1 = ((· · · (h1 (fn−(m−1) )⋆h2 (fn−(m−2) ))⋆h3 (fn−(m−3) ))⋆
· · · ⋆ hm (fn )), for n ≥ m.
Note that the paranthesis are nested from left to right in the above definition
and can also be nested from right to left depending on the choice of the binary
operation. Also, the nesting of paranthesis does not really matter when the binary
operation is associative.
We now illustrate various existing Fibonacci sequence definitions as a special
case of Definition 1.
Remark 1. The basic definition of Fibonacci sequence of words, denoted by Fu,v
′
and Fu,v , where u, v ∈ Σ + , (see [10] for more information on properties of such
words) are defined as follows:
1. w1 = u, w2 = v, w3 = vu, . . . , wn = wn−1 wn−2 , . . . and Fu,v = {wi : i ≥ 1}
′
2. w1′ = u, w2′ = v, w3′ = uv, . . . , wn′ = wn−2
′ ′
wn−1 , . . . and Fu,v = {wi′ : i ≥ 1}
Observe that for hi = I, m = 2 and with catenation as the binary operation
‘⋆,’ f1′ = w1 , f2′ = w2 , wn+1 = fn+1
′
= fn′ fn−1
′
and f1 = w1′ , f2 = w2′ ,
′
wn+1 = fn+1 = fn−1 fn .

Remark 2. The Fibonacci words generated through the bicatenation ( [2]) oper-
ation are given by:

Fi = Fi−1 Fi−2 ∪ Fi−2 Fi−1 = {uv, vu : u ∈ Fi−1 , v ∈ Fi−2 }.

 Note that for hi = I, m = 2 and with bi-catenation as the binary operation
‘⋆’, we have Fi = fi for all i. Similarly, the shuffle Fibonnaci words ( [4]),
F1 = {a}, F2 = {b}, Fn+2 = Fn ⋄ Fn+1 for n ≥ 1
can be represented a special case of fi′ when hi = I, m = 2 and with shuffle as
the binary operation ⋆, fn′ = Fn .
The following definition of Fibonacci seuqenc involves the notion using binary
sequences ( [?, 2]). Consider a finite binary sequence r1 , r2 , . . . , rn−2 and let
w1 = a , w2 = b, w30 = ba, w31 = ab, w40 = bab, w401 = bba, w410 = abb, w411 = bab
then, for n ≥ 4,
(
r1 r2 ···rn−3 r1 r2 ···rn−4
r1 r2 ···rn−2 wn−1 wn−2 , if rn−2 = 0,
wn = r1 r2 ···rn−4 r1 r2 ···rn−3
wn−2 wn−1 , if rn−2 = 1;
(
(r1 r2 ···rn−3 ) (r1 r2 ···rn−4 )
(r1 r2 ···rn−2 ) R(wn−1 )wn−2 , if rn−2 = 0,
wn = (r1 r2 ···rn−4 ) (r1 r2 ···rn−3 )
wn−2 R(wn−1 ), if rn−2 = 1;
where, R(a1 a2 · · · ak ) = ak ak−1 · · · a2 a1 is the reversal mapping.
r r ···r (r r ···r )
Remark 3. Note that the above sequences {wn1 2 n−2 : n ≥ 1} and {wn 1 2 n−2 :
n ≥ 1} are special cases of sequences fn and fn′ respectively with bicatenation
as the binary operation ’⋆’ and,
fn = wnr1 r2 ···rn−2 : n ≥ 1, hi = I, m = 2
fn′ = wn(r1 r2 ···rn−2 ) : n ≥ 1, h1 = R, hi = I, ∀i ≥ 2, m = 2
Definition 2. M -bonacci words [1] The m-bonacci word is a generalization
of the Fibonacci word extended to the m-letter alphabet Σ = {0, . . . , m − 1}. It
is the unique fixed point of the substitution ϕ = ϕm given by the description
0 → 01, 1 → 02, . . . , (m − 2) → 0(m − 1), and (m − 1) → 0.
Remark 4. One can observe that the M -bonacci words defined above are nothing
but the sequence of words {Fn : n ≥ 1} such that , given F1 = 0, F2 = ϕ(0),
F3 = ϕ(F2 ), · · · , Fm = ϕ(Fm−1 ), Fn is defined as:
Fn = Fn−1 Fn−2 · · · Fn−m ∀n ≥ m + 1
Thus, Fn = fn for hi = I, ∀i and with catenation as the binary operation ‘⋆’.
Definition 3. k-Fibonacci words [7] The k-Fibonacci words over the alphabet
{0, 1} are defined recursively as follows
fk,0 = 0, fk,1 = 0k−1 1, fk,n = fk,n−1
k
fk,n−2
, for all n ≥ 2 and k ≥ 1. The infinite word
fk := lim fk,n
n→∞

is called the k-Fibonacci word.

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Remark 5. The k-Fibonacci words fk,n over the alphabet {0, 1} are equal to fn
such that fk,n−1 = fn for all n ≥ 1, h1 (x) = xk for all x ∈ Σ ∗ , hi = I for all
i ≥ 2, m = 2, and with catenation as the binary operation ‘⋆’.
Definition 4. (n, i)-Fibonacci words [8] The (n, i)-Fibonacci words are words
over {0, 1} define inductively as follows
[i] [i] [i] [i]
f0 = 0, f1 = 0i−1 1, fn[i] = fn−1 fn−2 ,
for all n ≥ 2 and i ≥ 1. The infinite word
f [i] := lim fn[i]
n→∞

is called the i-Fibonacci word.

Definition 5. Comment: The (n, i)-Fibonacci words are similar to that of the
[i] [i]
basic Fibonacci definition by considering f1 = f0 and f2 = f1 .

Generalized Fibonacci sequence [8] Based on the generalization of Fi-

bonacci number sequence introduced in [3], a generalized Fibonacci word sequence
is defined as follows. Let α = [0, a, b, a, b, . . .] then w(α) = limn→∞ sn where
s0 = 1, s1 = 0, s2 = 0a−1 1,
(
san−1 sn−2 , if n is even
sn =
sbn−1 sn−2 , if n is odd

Remark 6. The Generalized Fibonaaci sequence sn defined above is a particular

case of fn when, m = 2, hi = I for all i ≥ 2, with catenation as the binary
operation ‘⋆’ , f1 = 0, f2 = 0a−1 1 and
(
xa , if x = y0
h1 (x) =
xb , if x = y1

where y ∈ Σ ∗ and Σ = {0, 1}.

Dense Fibonacci words: In order to simplify the construction of Fibonacci
fractals, [6] introduced the notion of dense Fibonacci word obtained by the mor-
phism, 00 → 0, 01 → 1, 10 → 2. The dense Fibonacci word is referenced as
A143667 in the OEIS.
Definition 6. θ-Catenation [5] Given a morphic or an antimorphic involu-
tion θ on Σ ∗ and any two words u, v ∈ Σ ∗ , we define the binary operation
θ-catenation as
u ⊙ v = {uv, uθ(v)}.
Definition 7. Modified- θ-Catenation?? Given a morphic or an antimor-
phic involution θ on Σ ∗ and any two words u, v ∈ Σ ∗ , we define the binary
operation θ-catenation as
u ⊙′ v = {uv, θ(u)v, uθ(v), θ(u)θ(v)}.

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For L1 , L2 ⊆ Σ ∗ ,
L1 ⊙′ L2 = {u ⊙′ v : u ∈ L1 , v ∈ L2 }
Watson-Crick Fibonacci words
Definition 8. Let W= u, W2 = v for some u, v ∈ Σ ∗ . Then, Wn is defined
recursively as,
Wn = Wn−1 ⊙′ Wn−2
Note that similar to that of the bi-catenation Fibonacci sequence, the Watson-
Crick Fibonacci word Wn is a set for n ≥ 3.
Example for Watson-Crick Fibonacci sequence using modified θ-catenation
operation
Example 1. Given W1 , W2 , . . . , Wn−1 , the Fibonacci word Wn using the modified
θ-operation is given by
Wn = Wn−1 ⊙′ Wn−2 .
Let Σ = {A, C, G, T } and θ be a morphic involution such that θ(A) = T ,
θ(T ) = A, θ(C) = G and θ(G) = C. Let
W1 = A, W2 = C
W3 = W2 ⊙′ W1 = {CA, CT, GA, GT }
W4 = W3 ⊙′ W2 = {CAC, CT C, GAC, GT C, CAG, CT G, GAG, GT G}
Similarly, if θ is an antimorphic involution, then
W1 = A, W2 = C
W3 = W2 ⊙′ W1 = {CA, CT, GA, GT }
W4 = W3 ⊙′ W2 = {CAC, CT C, GAC, GT C, CAG, CT G, GAG, GT G, T GC,
AGC, T CC, ACC, T GG, AGG, T CG, ACG}

1 Equivalence
M -bonacci words [1] The m-bonacci word is a generalization of the Fibonacci
word to the m-letter alphabet Σ = {0, . . . , m − 1}. It is the unique fixed point
of the substitution ϕ = ϕm given by the description
0 → 01, 1 → 02, . . . , (m − 2) → 0(m − 1), and (m − 1) → 0.
Definition 9. [9] A D0L system is a triple
G = (Σ, h, w),
where Σ is an alphabet, h is an endomorphism defined on Σ ∗ , and w, referred
to as the axiom, is an element of Σ ∗ . The (word) sequence E(G) generated by
G consists of the words
h0 (w) = w, h(w), h2 (w), h3 (w), . . .

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 The m-bonacci words is a D0L system G such that
G = ({0, 1, 2, . . . , m − 1}, h, 0)
with h(0) = 01, h(1) = 02, h(2) = 03, . . . , h(m − 1) = 0. It is easy to verify
that this D0L system precisely generates the m-bonacci words. The sequence
E(G) generated by G consists of the words
0, 01, 0102, 0102010, 0102010010201, . . .
Furthermore for n ≥ m, we have
hn (0) = hn−1 (h(0))
= hn−1 (01)
= hn−1 (0)hn−1 (1)
= hn−1 (0)hn−2 (h(1))
= hn−1 (0)hn−2 (02)
= hn−1 (0)hn−2 (0)hn−2 (2)
..
.
= hn−1 (0)hn−2 (0) · · · hn−m (0)
If we rewrite the sequence as w0 , w1 , w2 , . . ., we can see that
wn = wn−1 wn−2 · · · wn−m .

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