Determining whether a number is a Fibonacci number

Question

I need to to write a Java code that checks whether the user inputed number is in the Fibonacci sequence.

I have no issue writing the Fibonacci sequence to output, b

Answer 1

Trying to leverage the code you have already written I would propose the following first, as it is the simplest solution (but not the most efficient):

private static void main(string[] args)
{
    //This will determnine which numbers between 1 & 100 are in the fibonacci series
    //you can swop in code to read from console rather than 'i' being used from the for loop
    for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
    {
        bool result = isFib(1);

        if (result)
            System.out.println(i + " is in the Fib series.");

        System.out.println(result);
    }

}

private static bool isFib(int num)
{
    int counter = 0;

    while (true)
    {
        if (fib(counter) < num)
        {
            counter++;
            continue;
        }

        if (fib(counter) == num)
        {
            return true;
        }

        if (fib(counter) > num)
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
}

I would propose a more elegant solution in the generation of fibonacci numbers which leverages recursion like so:

public static long fib(int n) 
{
   if (n <= 1) 
      return n;
   else 
      return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2);
}

For the extra credit read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number#Recognizing_Fibonacci_numbers

You will see the that there are a few more efficient ways to test if a number is in the Fibonacci series namely: (5z^2 + 4 or 5z^2 − 4) = a perfect square.

//(5z^2 + 4 or 5z^2 − 4) = a perfect square 
//perfect square = an integer that is the square of an integer
private static bool isFib(int num)
{
    double first = 5 * Math.pow((num), 2) + 4;
    double second = 5 * Math.pow((num), 2) - 4;

    return isWholeNumber(Math.sqrt(first)) || isWholeNumber(Math.sqrt(second));
}

private static bool isWholeNumber(double num)
{
    return num - Math.round(num) == 0;    
}

Answer 2

Instead of passing the index, n, write a function that takes a limit, and get it to generate the Fibonacci numbers up to and including this limit. Get it to return a Boolean depending on whether it hits or skips over the limit, and you can use this to check whether that value is in the sequence.

Since it's homework, a nudge like this is probably all we should be giving you...