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Fibonacci The Numbers of Nature

The Fibonacci sequence appears frequently in nature. It describes the pattern of numbers where each number is the sum of the previous two, starting with 0 and 1. This sequence was popularized by Leonardo Fibonacci but originally described in his book Liber Abaci to solve a rabbit breeding problem. The ratio between numbers in the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden ratio. This sequence appears in phyllotaxis, the arrangement of leaves and flowers on plants, as well as the number of petals on many flowers.

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93 views5 pages

Fibonacci The Numbers of Nature

The Fibonacci sequence appears frequently in nature. It describes the pattern of numbers where each number is the sum of the previous two, starting with 0 and 1. This sequence was popularized by Leonardo Fibonacci but originally described in his book Liber Abaci to solve a rabbit breeding problem. The ratio between numbers in the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden ratio. This sequence appears in phyllotaxis, the arrangement of leaves and flowers on plants, as well as the number of petals on many flowers.

Uploaded by

Cindy Valdoz
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The numbers of nature: the Fibonacci sequence

The Fibonacci Sequence has always attracted the attention of people since, as well as
having special mathematical properties, other numbers so ubiquitous as those of
Fibonacci do not exist anywhere else in mathematics: they appear in geometry, algebra,
number theory, in many other fields of mathematics and even in nature! Let’s find out
together what it is …

The life of Fibonacci


Leonardo Pisano, called Fibonacci (Fibonacci stands for filius Bonacii) was born in Pisa
around 1170. His father, Guglielmo dei Bonacci, a wealthy Pisan merchant and
representative of the merchants of the Republic of Pisa in the area of Bugia in Cabilia
(in modern north-eastern Algeria), after 1192 took his son with him, because he wanted
Leonardo to become a merchant.

Source: Wikipedia

He thus got Leonardo to study, under the guidance of a Muslim teacher, who guided
him in learning calculation techniques, especially those concerning Indo-Arabic
numbers, which had not yet been introduced in Europe. Fibonacci’s eduction started in
Bejaia and continued also in Egypt, Syria and Greece, places he visited with his father
along the trade routes, before returning permanently to Pisa starting from around 1200.
For the next 25 years, Fibonacci dedicated himself to writing mathematical manuscripts:
of these, Liber Abaci (1202), thanks to which Europe became aware of Indo-Arabic
numbers, Practica Geometriae (1220), Flos (1225) and Liber Quadratorum (1225) are
today known to us.
Leonardo’s reputation as a mathematician became so great that Emperor Federico II
asked an audience while in Pisa in 1225. After 1228, not much is known of Leonardo’s
life, except that he was awarded the title of”Discretus et sapiens magister Leonardo
Bigollo” in recognition of the great progress he made to mathematics. Fibonacci died
sometime after 1240, presumably in Pisa.

The rabbits of Fibonacci and the famous sequence


Liber Abaci, in addition to referring to Indo-Arabic numbers, which subsequently took
the place Roman numerals, also included a large collection of problems addressed to
merchants, concerning product prices, calculation of business profit, currency
conversion into the various coins in use in the Mediterranean states, as well as other
problems of Chinese origin. Alongside these commercial problems were others, much
more famous, which also had a great influence on later authors. Among them, the most
famous, source of inspiration for many mathematicians of later centuries, is the
following: “How many pairs of rabbits will be born in a year, starting from a single pair, if
each month each pair gives birth to a new pair which becomes reproductive from the
second month?”. The solution to this problem is the famous “Fibonacci sequence”: 0, 1,
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,34,55,89… a sequence of numbers in which each member is the
sum of the previous two.
Source:  Oilproject

An important characteristic of the sequence is the fact that the ratio between any
number and the previous one in the series tends towards a well-defined value: 1.618…
This is the golden ratio or golden section, φ (Phi), that frequently occurs in nature (to
know more about: The perfection of the snail).
When Fibonacci illustrated this sequence, as a solution to a “recreational mathematics”
problem, he did not give it particular importance. Only in 1877 the mathematician
Édouard Lucas published a number of important studies on this sequence, which he
claimed to have found in Liber Abaci and which, in the honour of the author, he called
“Fibonacci sequence”. Studies subsequently multiplied, and numerous and unexpected
properties of this sequence were discovered, so much so that since 1963, a journal
exclusively dedicated to it, “The Fibonacci quarterly”, has been published.

The Fibonacci sequence in nature


Observing the geometry of plants, flowers or fruit, it is easy to recognize the presence of
recurrent structures and forms. The Fibonacci sequence, for example, plays a vital role
in phyllotaxis, which studies the arrangement of leaves, branches, flowers or seeds in
plants, with the main aim of highlighting the existence of regular patterns. The various
arrangements of natural elements follow surprising mathematical regularities: D’arcy
Thompson observed that the plant kingdom has a curious preference for particular
numbers and for certain spiral geometries, and that these numbers and geometries are
closely related.
We can easily find the numbers of the Fibonacci sequence in the spirals formed by
individual flowers in the composite inflorescences of daisies, sunflowers, cauliflowers
and broccoli.

In the sunflower, individual flowers are arranged along curved lines which rotate clockwise and counterclockwise. Credits: The
Fibonacci sequence in phyllotaxis – Laura Resta (Degree Thesis in biomathematics)

It was Kepler who noted that on many types of trees the leaves are aligned in a pattern
that includes two Fibonacci numbers. Starting from any leaf, after one, two, three or five
turns of the spiral there is always a leaf aligned with the first and, depending on the
species, this will be the second, the third, the fifth, the eighth or the thirteenth leaf.

Arrangement of leaves on a stem. Credits: The Fibonacci sequence in phyllotaxis – Laura Resta (Degree Thesis in biomathematics)

Another simple example in which it is possible to find the Fibonacci sequence in nature
is given by the number of petals of flowers. Most have three (like lilies and irises), five
(parnassia, rose hips) or eight (cosmea), 13 (some daisies), 21 (chicory), 34, 55 or 89
(asteraceae). These numbers are part of the famous Fibonacci sequence described in
the previous paragraph.

Iris, 3 petals; parnassia, 5 petals; cosmea, 8 petals

By Benedetta Palazzo

Sources:
Tesi di Laurea in biomatematica: La successione di Fibonacci nella fillotassi – Laura
Resta
Le geometrie delle piante e la successione di Fibonacci – Scientificast

http://www.eniscuola.net/en/2016/06/27/the-numbers-of-nature-the-fibonacci-sequence/

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