| Did you know . . .? |
The Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 . . .) occurs throughout the worlds of nature, art, music, and mathematics!
Each term in the series is produced
by adding together the two previous terms, so that 1 + 1=2, 1
+ 2=3, 2 + 3=5, and so on. The sequence takes its name from a
famous thirteenth-century European mathematician, Leonard of Pisa
(?1170-1250), also called Fibonacci. Fibonacci was one of the
first Europeans to use Arabic numbers, whose use he explained
in his 1202 Liber abaci.
(Image source: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Fibonacci.html)
Fibonacci gave this sequence as an answer to the following mathematical puzzle:
A certain man put a pair of rabbits in a place surrounded on all sides by a wall. How many pairs of rabbits can be produced from that pair in a year if it is supposed that every month each pair begets a new pair which from the second month on becomes productive?
The answer is the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, . . ., as illustrated below:
(Image source: http://www.jimloy.com/algebra/fibo.htm)
Fibonacci numbers occur many times in the natural
world. Plants tend to have a number of leaves that is a Fibonacci
number, and flowers have a Fibonacci number of petals. Seeds in
a flower head are often arranged in spiral patterns that are related
to Fibonacci numbers (for example, the number of spirals that
curve to the left and the number of spirals that curve to the
right will be adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci sequence).
(Image source: http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#seeds)
(Source of images: http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#spiral)
Fibonacci numbers are also important
in art
and music. The ratio between successive Fibonacci numbers
approximates an important constant called "the golden mean"
or sometimes phi,
which is approximately 1.61803. The higher you go in the Fibonacci
sequence, the more closely the ratio between two successive numbers
in the sequence approximates phi. (By the way phi2=phi
+ 1!)
A
rectangle whose sides are in the proportion 1 : 1.61803 is supposed
to be the most aesthetically perfect rectangle (the "golden
rectangle"). The Parthenon
in Athens has such a rectangle as its face, and phi
is said to have figured in the construction of the
Great Pyramids. The "golden section," in which a
line is divided into segments of lengths in the ratio 1 : .61803
is supposed to be an aesthetically ideal way to divide a line.
Numerous artists have used the golden section in their works, as well as composers, including (perhaps) Beethoven and Mozart.
(Image source: http://pauillac.inria.fr/algo/bsolve/constant/gold/gold.html)
By the way, the Fibonacci sequence also
shows up in Pascal's triangle,
if you add the diagonals!
(Image source: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/faq/faq.pascal.triangle.html)
In his own
words:
How many pairs of rabbits can be bred from one pair in a
year?
A man has one pair of rabbits at a certain place entirely surrounded
by a wall. We wish to know how many pairs will be bred from it
in one year, if the nature of these rabbits is such that they
breed every month one other pair and begin to breed in the second
month after their birth. ... Liber abaci (1202)
(Quotation source: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Quotations/Fibonacci.html)
Fun links:
Unfold the Golden Rectangle: http://www.vashti.net/mceinc/Unfold0.HTM
Using the Fibonacci numbers to calculate pi: http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibpi.html#piandfib
Some Fibonacci number puzzles: http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibpuzzles.html
For more information:
Incredible set of pages on Fibonacci numbers and the golden section by Dr. Ron Knott: http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fib.html
Jim Loy's pages on the Fibonacci numbers (http://www.jimloy.com/algebra/fibo.htm) and the golden rectangle and golden ratio (http://www.jimloy.com/geometry/golden.htm)
Dr. Math on Fibonacci numbers and the golden mean: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/faq/faq.golden.ratio.html
A brief overview: http://plus.maths.org/issue3/fibonacci/
On the golden mean: http://pauillac.inria.fr/algo/bsolve/constant/gold/gold.html
On Fibonacci: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Fibonacci.html
And: http://cedar.evansville.edu/~ck6/bstud/fibo.html
By Laura Smoller, UALR Department of History.
June 2001.