Solution:
Expanding each number as the sum of the two previous numbers gives, for example,
1−2+3−5+8−13=1−(1+1)+(1+2)−(2+3)+(3+5)−(5+8).
Now, after removing parentheses, this is a telescoping series: each term subtracts out with its neighbor, so what's left is the last term of this expanded sum, or the second-to-last term of the original sum.
=1−1−1+1+2−2−3+3+5−5−8=−8.
To make it clear that this pattern always works, it would be nice to write all of this in terms of Fn, the nth number in the list. When doing so, the previous expression becomes
F1−F2+F3−…±Fn=(F1)−(F0+F1)+(F1+F2)−…±(Fn−2+Fn−1)
and so this works for all n because F0=F1, so every pair of consecutive terms in this long expression adds up to 0, except for the Fn−1 at the end.
Pair up the terms. For our example above,
1−2+3−5+8−13=(1−2)+(3−5)+(8−13)=1+2+5,
which shows that after the initial 1 we get every other term of the sequence. Then, we add, with 1+2=3, and then 3+5=8. To make it clear that this pattern always works, you will need to consider examples with an odd number of terms as well as showing that F1+F2+F4+…+F2n=F2n+1.
Other good arguments include a proof by mathematical induction, which supposes that this pattern works for the sum up to Fn and then proves that it continues working for the sum up to Fn+1.