Fibonacci Sequence

My next dive into attempting to write a program deals with a Fibonacci-se-quence. I have started an outline to portray the ideas of how I think the flow of code should go to produce this program and have come across some questions.

I want my program to query the user for four separate integers. The first two are the beginning numbers of the sequence and the last two will indicate the starting point and ending point of the sequence.

My question is: if the user decides to start farther down the line, instead of the beginning number, then how should I put this together? Should I write a function that will work through the computations ( beginning from the first ) which will keep count of each loop through the computations and then return when it has reached the proper beginning line or should I try to compute an algorithm that will do the same and begin printing at said starting point.

For example:

the user inputs 1,1 for the sequence
the user wants the starting point for output to be 3 and end at 9.

the output should read:

3: 2
4: 3
5: 5
6: 8
7: 13
8: 21
9: 34

I am also going to include the ratio of the current number of the sequence to the previous, but that didn't seem necessarily relevant to my question.

Sorry if this was poorly written. I am kind of scrambling through my thoughts here.

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Originally Posted by Dogmasur

My question is: if the user decides to start farther down the line, instead of the beginning number, then how should I put this together? Should I write a function that will work through the computations ( beginning from the first ) which will keep count of each loop through the computations and then return when it has reached the proper beginning line or should I try to compute an algorithm that will do the same and begin printing at said starting point.

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Why not try both and see which one you like the best? (Note, however, that functions cannot return more than one thing, and you're going to need two (previous) numbers to go forward. This will most likely require (dum-dum-duuum) pointers (thunder crash, spooky chord).)

Would it be feasible to compute all the lines up to the ending point, store them each in a string and then print those that are within the scope of what the user wants to see? I only ask, because I am most definitely not ready to enter the world of efficient coding...meaning use of processor resources, time for opera-tion and use of available memory...but would like to begin writing at least some-what discriminately towards making the best use of these processes.

You ... could, I suppose. It's a bit tricky, in that you have to know ahead of time (that is, before the user types anything at all) how long the string is going to be, and you don't. Otherwise, you go back to getting memory on-the-fly. (Same thing for trying to store all the answers in an array -- you won't know when you compile the program how big your array is going to need to be.)

PS: I'm guessing you type your posts in a word processing program before posting? Not a bad idea, but could you maybe turn off auto-hy-phen-ate?

The latter, because it allows you to put all the code that deals with actually calculating the Fibonacci algorithm in one place. This makes it easy for you to change your implementation of the algorithm, if you find a better way later.

In general you should try to separate number crunching and interface, as much as possible.

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Originally Posted by tabstop

You ... could, I suppose. It's a bit tricky, in that you have to know ahead of time (that is, before the user types anything at all) how long the string is going to be, and you don't. Otherwise, you go back to getting memory on-the-fly. (Same thing for trying to store all the answers in an array -- you won't know when you compile the program how big your array is going to need to be.)

PS: I'm guessing you type your posts in a word processing program before posting? Not a bad idea, but could you maybe turn off auto-hy-phen-ate?

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Sorry, I'll stop hyphenating. I'm not using a word processor. I was just hyphenating within the window given on this forum. I should preview my posts before posting. Thx for the heads up.

I keep hearing scanf is bad and using getchar () to wait for an enter key press is bad. Is scanf safe to use here, since I am receiving a simple integer and how do I properly code to wait for a press of the enter key?

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Originally Posted by Dogmasur

Would it be feasible to compute all the lines up to the ending point, store them each in a string and then print those that are within the scope of what the user wants to see? I only ask, because I am most definitely not ready to enter the world of efficient coding...meaning use of processor resources, time for opera-tion and use of available memory...but would like to begin writing at least some-what discriminately towards making the best use of these processes.

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In addition to what tabstop said, this will make your program memory grow needlessly, when all you really ever need to store are the last two digits. It would also limit the maximum number of digits you can calculate up to.

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Originally Posted by Dogmasur

I keep hearing scanf is bad and using getchar () to wait for an enter key press is bad. Is scanf safe to use here, since I am receiving a simple integer and how do I properly code to wait for a press of the enter key?

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scanf is only bad when you use %s without a width specifier as present it "%80s". %i and the others are fine.

getchar() is not bad, as far as I know, but using getchar and scanf together can be confusing, since scanf will usually leaves trailing whitespace (and anything else really) in the buffer, and the next getchar call will pick up what's left of the buffer, before going on to the next line.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dogmasur

Sorry, I'll stop hyphenating. I'm not using a word processor. I was just hyphenating within the window given on this forum. I should preview my posts before posting. Thx for the heads up.

I keep hearing scanf is bad and using getchar () to wait for an enter key press is bad. Is scanf safe to use here, since I am receiving a simple integer and how do I properly code to wait for a press of the enter key?

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I would say that when you are working on your own small projects, like this, that using scanf and other 'unsafe' things are ok. But it is good to be aware of their limitations if you tackle something larger.

As for the fibonacci sequence, I like the recursive solution because of it's simplicity and elegance. Learning a recursive approach is valuable even if it is not always the most optimal performance wise.

I'm going to try to put this together with what knowledge I have and can gather from some "light" reading and then put it out for you all to laugh ( I mean comment) at.

:)

Thx all.

simple, just include math.h , and than:

result = (1/sqrt(5))*((1+sqrt(5))/2)^n-(1/sqrt(5))*((1-sqrt(5))/2)^n ;

of course n is the variable...

i've learned this, this week in college. :):cool:

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Originally Posted by PkD

simple, just include math.h , and than:

result = (1/sqrt(5))*((1+sqrt(5))/2)^n-(1/sqrt(5))*((1-sqrt(5))/2)^n ;

of course n is the variable...

i've learned this, this week in college. :):cool:

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I was going to go with a much simpler a+b=c, where I would simply redefine the variables with each pass through my loop.

What you're getting into is Binet's formula, which might be a bit excessive for what I need. I have some understanding of mathematics and Fibonacci recursion's similarity to the generating polynomial of the recursion. I was asking more about how to code my program than how to compute the variables involved. Sorry if I wasn't clear and thanks for your input.

An adaptation of the formula may help you get to the start point faster, but once you are there, the use of such a formula would only slow you down, since simple addition of the previous two terms would be much faster.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PkD

simple, just include math.h , and than:

result = (1/sqrt(5))*((1+sqrt(5))/2)^n-(1/sqrt(5))*((1-sqrt(5))/2)^n ;

of course n is the variable...

i've learned this, this week in college. :):cool:

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I reread through the posts and thought my reply to you sounded snooty. I just wanted to apologize for that and let you know it wasn't meant to sound rude.

It 's ok.

I've just posted the Binet's formula because it's a curiosity, of course it slow down the PC , but if the user whats a number very big,maybe is it better use the formula? or 0+1+1+2+3+5+8+13+21+... ? .

thats it!

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I've just posted the Binet's formula because it's a curiosity, of course it slow down the PC , but if the user whats a number very big,maybe is it better use the formula? or 0+1+1+2+3+5+8+13+21+... ? .

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That formula answers the question of "what's the number at the nth position in the series?" To answer the question of "what are the numbers in the nth to the mth position in the series?", we can use the formula (or an adaptation) to get to nth and (n+1)th numbers in the series, and from then on just use addition. Using the formula for each number in the range is inefficient.