New Combinatorial Interpretations of the Fibonacci Numbers Squared, Golden Rectangle Numbers, and Jacobsthal Numbers Using Two Types of Tile
Kenneth Edwards and Michael A. Allen
Physics Department
Faculty of Science
Mahidol University
Rama 6 Road
Bangkok 10400
Thailand
Abstract:
We consider the tiling of an n-board (a board of size n × 1)
with squares of unit width and (1,1)-fence tiles. A (1,1)-fence
tile is composed of two unit-width square sub-tiles separated by a gap
of unit width. We show that the number of ways to tile an n-board
using unit-width squares and (1,1)-fence tiles is equal to a
Fibonacci number squared when n is even and a golden rectangle
number (the product of two consecutive Fibonacci numbers) when n is
odd. We also show that the number of tilings of boards using n such
square and fence tiles is a Jacobsthal number. Using combinatorial
techniques we prove new
identities involving golden rectangle and Jacobsthal numbers. Two of
the identities involve entries in two Pascal-like triangles. One is a
known triangle (with alternating ones and zeros along one side) whose
(n,k)th entry is the number of tilings using n
tiles of which k
are fence tiles. There is a simple relation between this triangle and
the other which is the analogous triangle for tilings of an n-board.
These triangles are related to Riordan arrays and we give a general
procedure for finding which Riordan array(s) a triangle is related to.
The resulting combinatorial interpretation of the Riordan arrays
allows one to derive properties of them via combinatorial
proof.
Full version: pdf,
dvi,
ps,
latex
(Concerned with sequences
A000045
A000073
A000124
A000930
A001045
A001654
A002620
A003269
A003600
A006498
A007598
A015518
A017817
A059259
A059260
A071921
A079291
A089928
A114620
A123521
A157897
A158909
A335964.)
Received September 9 2020;
revised version received September 12 2020; March 4 2021; March 5 2021.
Published in Journal of Integer Sequences, March 10 2021.
Return to
Journal of Integer Sequences home page