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Ways to climb ten stairs in hops of one or two

Question

A rabbit starts on the floor below a 1010-step staircase. Each hop takes it up either one step or two steps. In how many different hop sequences can it end exactly on the top (10th) step?

Short answer

8989. If xnx_n counts the ways to reach step nn, the final hop is from step n−1n-1 or n−2n-2, so xn=xn−1+xn−2x_n=x_{n-1}+x_{n-2} with x1=1x_1=1, x2=2x_2=2. This is the Fibonacci sequence shifted by one, and x10=F11=89x_{10}=F_{11}=89.

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