MODULE 1-3 FIBONACCI

FIBONACCI IN NATURE
Fibonacci in Nature
By learning about nature, it becomes gradually evident that the nature is
essentially mathematical, and this is one of the reasons why explaining nature is
dependent on mathematics. Mathematics has the power to unveil the inherent beauty of
the natural world.
In describing the amazing variety of phenomena in nature we stumble to discover
the existence of Fibonacci numbers. It turns out that the Fibonacci numbers appear
from the smallest up to the biggest objects in the natural world. This presence of
Fibonacci numbers in nature, which was once existed realm mathematician’s curiously,
is considered as one of the biggest mysteries why the some patterns in nature is
Fibonacci. But one thing is definitely made certain, and that what seemed solely
mathematical is also natural.
For instance, many flowers display figures adorned with numbers of petals that
are in the Fibonacci sequence. The classic five-petal flowers are said to be the most
common among them. These include the buttercup, columbine, and hibiscus. Aside
from those flowers with five petals, eight-petal flowers like clematis and delphinium also
have the Fibonacci numbers, while ragwort and marigold have thirteen. These numbers
are all Fibonacci numbers.
Apart from the counts of flower petals, the Fibonacci also occurs in nautilus
shells with a logarithmic spiral growth. Multiple Fibonacci spirals are also present in
pineapples and red cabbages. The patterns are all consistent and natural.

FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
Specific Objectives
As we have discussed in the preceding lesson, human mind is capable of identifying
and organizing patterns. We were also to realized that there are structures and patterns
in nature that we don’t usually draw attention to. Likewise, we arrived at a position that
in nature, some things follow mathematical sequences and one of them follow the
Fibonacci sequence. We noticed that these sequences is observable in some flower
petals, on the spirals of some shells and even on sunflower seeds. It is amazing to think
that the Fibonacci sequence is dramatically present in nature and it opens the door to
understand seriously the nature of sequence.
Discussion

Sequence
Sequence refers to an ordered list of numbers called terms, that may have
repeated values. The arrangement of these terms is set by a definite rule. (Mathematics
in the Modern World, 14th Edition, Aufmann, RN. et al.). Cosider the given below
example:

As shown above, the elements in the sequence are called terms. It is called
sequence because the list is ordered and it follows a certain kind of pattern that must be
recognized in order to see the expanse. The three dots at the end of the visible patterns
means that the sequence is infinite.

There are different types of sequence and the most common are the arithmetic
sequence, geometric sequence, harmonic sequence, and Fibonacci sequence.

Arithmetic sequence.
It is a sequence of numbers that follows a definite pattern. To determine if the
series of numbers follow an arithmetic sequence, check the difference between two
consecutive terms. If common difference is observed, then definitely arithmetic
sequence governed the pattern. To clearly illustrate the arrangement, consider the
example below:

Notice in the given example above, the common difference between two
consecutive terms in the sequence is two. The common difference is the clue that must
be figure out in a pattern in order to recognize it as an arithmetic sequence.
Geometric sequence.
If in the arithmetic sequence we need to check for the common difference, in
geometric sequence we need to look for the common ratio. The illustrated in the
example below, geometric sequence is not as obvious as the arithmetic sequence. All
possibilities must be explored until some patterns of uniformity can intelligently be
struck. At first it may seem like pattern less but only by digging a little bit deeper that
we can finally delve the constancy.

Harmonic Sequence.
In the sequence, the reciprocal of the terms behaved in a manner like arithmetic
sequence. Consider the example below and notice an interesting pattern in the series.
With this pattern, the reciprocal appears like arithmetic sequence. Only in recognizing
the appearance that we can finally decode the sequencing the govern the series.

Fibonacci Sequence.
This specific sequence was named after an Italian mathematician Leonardo
Pisano Bigollo (1170 - 1250). He discovered the sequence while he was studying
rabbits. The Fibonacci sequence is a seriesof numbers governed by some unusual
arithmetic rule. The sequence is organized in a way a number can be obtained by
adding the two previous numbers.
 Notice that the number 2 is actually the sum of 1 and 1. Also the 5th term which
is number 5 is based on addition of the two previous terms 2, and 3. That is the kind of
pattern being generated by the Fibonacci sequence. It is infinite in expanse and it was
once purely maintained claim as a mathematical and mental exercise but later on the it
was observed that the ownership of this pattern was also being claimed by some
species of flowers, petals, pineapple, pine cone, cabbages and some shells.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …

To explore a little bit more about the Fibonacci sequence, the location of the term was
conventionally tagged as Fib(𝑛). This means that Fib(1)=1, Fib(2)=1, Fib(3)=2 and
Fib(4)=3. In this method, the Fib(𝑛) is actually referring to the the 𝑛th term of the
sequence. It is also possible to make some sort of addition in this sequence. For
instance:

Fib (2) + Fib (6) = _?__

Fib(2) refers to the 2nd term in the sequence which is “1”. And Fib(6) refers to the
6th term which is “8”. So, the answer to that equation is simply “9”
 The amazing grandeur of Fibonacci sequence was also discovered in the
structure of Golden rectangle. The golden rectangle is made up of squares whose sizes,
surprisingly is also behaving similar to the Fibonacci sequence.

As we can see in the figure, there is no complexity in forming a spiral with the
use of the golden rectangle starting from one of the sides of the first Fibonacci square
going to the edges of each of the next squares. This golden rectangle shows that the
Fibonacci sequence is not only about sequence of numbers of some sort but it is also a
geometric sequence observing a rectangle ratio. The spiral line generated by the ratio is
generously scattered around from infinite to infinitesimal.