Bill Webb's March 2011 Talk
* Time and Date: 4:10 pm Tuesday, March 29
* Location: 5W Neill Hall, WSU Mathematics Department
* Title: A Universal Method For Proving Recurrence Sequence Identities
* Abstract: In the past 300 years, mathematicians have discovered hundreds if not thousands of identities involving the Fibonacci and Lucas numbers and more generalized recurrence sequences. Some identities can be proved by simple induction, but many have required very long and complex methods of proof. Also, a method which works on one identity may not be useful on another identity. We will present a universal method which can be used to prove essentially any identity involving recurrence sequences, by reducing the proof to a simple numerical calculation. This will result in an algorithm which can be implemented on a computer.
* Speaker Bio: Bill has been at WSU since 1969, after finishing his PhD at Penn State. His research interests include number theory, combinatorics, cryptography, and fair division. He is particularly interested in recurrence sequences and their properties, and he is president of the Fibonacci Association.
* Background Information for Talk: Here is a link to the Fibonacci Association. Here is another link to a wikipedia article on recurrence relations.