The Fibonacci sequence is an infinitely rich sequence based on a very simple rule: add the previous two numbers. If the first two numbers are 1 and 1, the sequence begins like this:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181, 6765, 10946, 17711, 28657, 46368, 75025…

Plainly, the numbers increase for ever. The hundredth Fibonacci number is 354,224,848,179,261,915,075, for example, and the two-hundredth is 280,571,172,992,510,140,037,611,932,413,038,677,189,525. But there are variants on the Fibonacci sequence that don’t increase for ever. The standard rule is n(i) = n(i-2) + n(i-1). What if the rule becomes n(i) = digitsum(n(i-2)) + digitsum(n(i-1))? Now the sequence falls into a loop, like this:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 12, 7, 10, 8, 9, 17, 17, 16, 15, 13, 10, 5, 6, 11, 8, 10, 9, 10, 10, 2, 3… (length=28)

But that’s in base 10. Here are the previous bases:

1, 1, 2, 2, 2… (base=2) (length=5)
1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3… (b=3) (l=7)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 4, 3, 4, 4, 2, 3… (b=4) (l=12)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 5, 5, 2, 3… (b=5) (l=10)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 8, 6, 4, 5, 9, 9, 8, 7, 5, 7, 7, 4, 6, 5, 6, 6, 2, 3… (b=6) (l=24)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 7, 3, 4, 7, 5, 6, 11, 11, 10, 9, 7, 4, 5, 9, 8, 5, 7, 6, 7, 7, 2, 3… (b=7) (l=28)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 6, 7, 13, 13, 12, 11, 9, 6, 8, 7, 8, 8, 2, 3… (b=8) (l=20)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 13, 10, 7, 9, 8, 9, 9, 2, 3… (b=9) (l=16)

Apart from base 2, all the bases repeat with (2, 3), which is set up in each case by (base, base) = (10, 10) in that base, equivalent to (1, 1). All bases > 2 appear to repeat with (2, 3), but I don’t understand why. The length of the sequence varies widely. Here it is in bases 29, 30 and 31:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 27, 33, 32, 9, 13, 22, 35, 29, 8, 9, 17, 26, 43, 41, 28, 41, 41, 26, 39, 37, 20, 29, 21, 22, 43, 37, 24, 33, 29, 6, 7, 13, 20, 33, 25, 30, 27, 29, 28, 29, 29, 2, 3… (b=29) (l=52)

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 26, 31, 28, 30, 29, 30, 30, 2, 3 (b=30) (l=18)

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 25, 29, 54, 53, 47, 40, 27, 37, 34, 11, 15, 26, 41, 37, 18, 25, 43, 38, 21, 29, 50, 49, 39, 28, 37, 35, 12, 17, 29, 46, 45, 31, 16, 17, 33, 20, 23, 43, 36, 19, 25, 44, 39, 23, 32, 25, 27, 52, 49, 41, 30, 41, 41, 22, 33, 25, 28, 53, 51, 44, 35, 19, 24, 43, 37, 20, 27, 47, 44, 31, 15, 16, 31, 17, 18, 35, 23, 28, 51, 49, 40, 29, 39, 38, 17, 25, 42, 37, 19, 26, 45, 41, 26, 37, 33, 10, 13, 23, 36, 29, 35, 34, 9, 13, 22, 35, 27, 32, 29, 31, 30, 31, 31, 2, 3 (b=31) (l=124)

The sequence for base 77 is short like that for base 30:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 68, 81, 73, 78, 75, 77, 76, 77, 77, 2, 3 (b=77) (l=22)

But the sequence for base 51 is this:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 39, 44, 83, 77, 60, 37, 47, 84, 81, 65, 46, 61, 57, 18, 25, 43, 68, 61, 29, 40, 69, 59, 28, 37, 65, 52, 17, 19, 36, 55, 41, 46, 87, 83, 70, 53, 23, 26, 49, 75, 74, 49, 73, 72, 45, 67, 62, 29, 41, 70, 61, 31, 42, 73, 65, 38, 53, 41, 44, 85, 79, 64, 43, 57, 50, 57, 57, 14, 21, 35, 56, 41, 47, 88, 85, 73, 58, 31, 39, 70, 59, 29, 38, 67, 55, 22, 27, 49, 76, 75, 51, 26, 27, 53, 30, 33, 63, 46, 59, 55, 14, 19, 33, 52, 35, 37, 72, 59, 31, 40, 71, 61, 32, 43, 75, 68, 43, 61, 54, 15, 19, 34, 53, 37, 40, 77, 67, 44, 61, 55, 16, 21, 37, 58, 45, 53, 48, 51, 49, 50, 99, 99, 98, 97, 95, 92, 87, 79, 66, 45, 61, 56, 17, 23, 40, 63, 53, 16, 19, 35, 54, 39, 43, 82, 75, 57, 32, 39, 71, 60, 31, 41, 72, 63, 35, 48, 83, 81, 64, 45, 59, 54, 13, 17, 30, 47, 77, 74, 51, 25, 26, 51, 27, 28, 55, 33, 38, 71, 59, 30, 39, 69, 58, 27, 35, 62, 47, 59, 56, 15, 21, 36, 57, 43, 50, 93, 93, 86, 79, 65, 44, 59, 53, 12, 15, 27, 42, 69, 61, 30, 41, 71, 62, 33, 45, 78, 73, 51, 24, 25, 49, 74, 73, 47, 70, 67, 37, 54, 41, 45, 86, 81, 67, 48, 65, 63, 28, 41, 69, 60, 29, 39, 68, 57, 25, 32, 57, 39, 46, 85, 81, 66, 47, 63, 60, 23, 33, 56, 39, 45, 84, 79, 63, 42, 55, 47, 52, 49, 51, 50, 51, 51, 2, 3… (b=51) (l=304)