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LESSON 2 Problem Solving With Patterns The Fibonacci Sequence pdf1

The document discusses several famous mathematical patterns and problems, including the Fibonacci sequence described by Leonardo of Pisa which involves the reproductive rates of rabbits, Pascal's triangle which contains the Fibonacci sequence, and the Tower of Hanoi puzzle involving moving disks between pegs with restrictions on legal moves. It provides background on these problems/patterns, examples of calculating terms, and references a website for interacting with an online simulation of the Tower of Hanoi.

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John Carlo Buscado
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77 views3 pages

LESSON 2 Problem Solving With Patterns The Fibonacci Sequence pdf1

The document discusses several famous mathematical patterns and problems, including the Fibonacci sequence described by Leonardo of Pisa which involves the reproductive rates of rabbits, Pascal's triangle which contains the Fibonacci sequence, and the Tower of Hanoi puzzle involving moving disks between pegs with restrictions on legal moves. It provides background on these problems/patterns, examples of calculating terms, and references a website for interacting with an online simulation of the Tower of Hanoi.

Uploaded by

John Carlo Buscado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Problem Solving with Patterns

The Fibonacci Sequence

Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci, is one of the best-known


mathematicians of medieval Europe. In 1202, after a trip that took him to several
Arab and Eastern countries, Fibonacci wrote the book Liber Abaci. In this book
Fibonacci explained why the Hindu-Arabic numeration system that he had learned
Fibonacci about during his travels was more sophisticated and efficient system than the
Roman numeration system. This book also contains a problem created by Fibonacci
that concerns the birth rate of rabbits. Here is the statement of Fibonacci’s rabbit problem.

At the beginning of a month, you are given a pair of newborn rabbits. After a month the rabbits
have produced no offspring; however, every month thereafter, the pair of rabbits produces another pair
of rabbits. The offspring reproduce in exactly the same manner. If none of the rabbit dies, how many pairs
of rabbits will there be at the start of each succeeding month?

The solution of this problem is a sequence of numbers that we now call the Fibonacci sequence.
The following figure shows the numbers of pairs of rabbits on the first day of each of the first six months.
The larger rabbits represent mature rabbits that produce another pair of rabbits each month. The
numbers in the red region – 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, – are the first six terms of the Fibonacci sequence.

Fibonacci discovered that the number of pairs of rabbits for any month after the first two
months can be determined by adding the numbers of pairs of rabbits in each of the two previous
months. For instance, the number of pairs of rabbits at the start of the sixth month is 3 + 5 = 8.

The Fibonacci Numbers

F1 = 1, F2 = 1, and Fn = Fn-1 + Fn – 2 for n ≥ 3


Example 8: Use the definition of Fibonacci numbers to find the seventh and eight Fibonacci numbers.

Solution:
The first six Fibonacci numbers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8. The seventh Fibonacci number is the sum of the
two previous Fibonacci numbers. Thus,

F7 = F6 + F5
= 8+5
= 13

The eighth Fibonacci number is,


F8 = F7 + F6
= 13 + 8
= 21

It is easy to find the nth Fibonacci number Fn if the two previous numbers, Fn-1 and Fn – 2 are
known. Suppose we want to find F20. Using the definition, it is tedious and time consuming to compute
F19 and F18 to determine F20. Fortunately, Jacques Binet in 1543 was able to find a formula for the nth
Fibonacci number.

Binet’s Formula
𝑛 𝑛
1 1+√5 1−√5
Fn =
5
[( 2
) −( 2
) ]
√

Example 9: Use Binet’s formula and a calculator to find the 20th and 50th Fibonacci number.

Solution:

20 20
1 1+√5 1−√5
F20 = [( ) − ( 2 ) ]
√5 2
= 6,765

50 50
1 1+√5 1−√5
F50 = [( 2 ) −( ) ]
√5 2
Jacques Binet = 12, 586, 269, 020

Another famous mathematician who loves patterns is Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). For hundreds
of years, many mathematicians were intrigued with the Pascal’s triangle. The figure below illustrates the
first seven rows of the Pascal’s triangle. As you can see, each row starts and ends with the number 1.
Any other number x is the sum of the two numbers in the previous row closest to that number x. for
instance, the number 15 in row 6 is the sum of numbers 5 and 10 closest to it in the previous row.

Blaise Pascal

An amazing discovery in Pascal’s triangle is that when you get the sum of the numbers using the
lines as shown in the next figure, the Fibonacci sequence appears. The first ten Fibonacci numbers 1, 1,
2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 show up.

Web Application
Another equally famous problem involving patterns is the Tower of Hanoi, invented by Edouard
Lucas in 1883. The Tower of Hanoi is a puzzle consisting of three pegs and a number of disks of distinct
diameters piled as shown in the figure below.

The puzzle requires that all the disks be moved from the first peg to the third peg such that the
largest disk is on the bottom, the next largest disk is placed on top of the largest disk and so on and that
only one disk be moved at a time. All pegs may be used.
Determine the minimum number of moves required to transfer the disks from the first peg to
the third peg or each of the following situations. Visit the website https://www.mathisfun.com
/games/towerofhanoi.html for a nice simulation.

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