Perspective in Mathematics Vi: The Decline and Revival of Learning: Fibonacci Sequence
Perspective in Mathematics Vi: The Decline and Revival of Learning: Fibonacci Sequence
Perspective in Mathematics Vi: The Decline and Revival of Learning: Fibonacci Sequence
Who is Fibonacci?
The "greatest European mathematician of the middle ages", his full name was Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Pisano in Italian since he was born in Pisa (Italy), the city with the famous Leaning Tower, about 1175 AD.
In Fibonacci's Liber Abaci book (1202), chapter 12, he introduces the following problem
Another Mathematical Contribution: Introducing the Decimal Number system into Europe
Brought Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Europe through the publication of his Book of Calculation, the Liber Abaci. Fibonacci numbers, constructed as an example in the Liber Abaci.
1 1 2
}+
1 1 2 3
}+
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34
}+
55
Fibonacci Sequence
Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, etc. Look at ratios:
1/1 = 1.0 2/1 = 2.0 3/2 = 1.5 5/3 = 1.666 8/5 = 1.6 13/8 = 1.625 21/13 = 1.615385 34/21 = 1.619048 55/34 = 1.617647 89/55 = 1.61812
Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci is best remembered for his problem about rabbits. The answer the Fibonacci sequence -- appears naturally throughout nature. But his most important contribution to maths was to bring to Europe the number system we still use today. In 1202 he published his Liber Abaci which introduced Europeans to the numbers first developed in India by the Hindus and then used by the Arabic mathematicians the decimal numbers. We still use them today.
If you begin with one pair of rabbits on the first day of the year, how many pairs of rabbits will you have on the first day of the next year? It is assumed that each pair of rabbits produces a new pair every month and each new pair begins to produce two months after birth.
The Fibonacci numbers are found many places in the natural world, including:
The number of flower petals. The branching behavior of plants. The growth patterns of sunflowers and pinecones,
It is believed that the spiral nature of plant growth accounts for this phenomenon.
Lilies have 3 petals Buttercups have 5 Many delphiniums have 8 Marigolds have 13 Asters have 21 Daisies commonly have 13, 21, 34, 55 or 89
On many plants, the number of petals is a Fibonacci number: Buttercups have 5 petals; lilies and iris have 3 petals; some delphiniums have 8; corn marigolds have 13 petals; some asters have 21 whereas daisies can be found with 34, 55 or even 89 petals.
13 petals: ragwort, corn marigold, cineraria, some daisies 21 petals: aster, black-eyed susan, chicory 34 petals: plantain, pyrethrum 55, 89 petals: michaelmas daisies, the asteraceae family. Some species are very precise about the number of petals they have - e.g. buttercups, but others have petals that are very near those above, with the average being a Fibonacci number.
Another Problems
Suppose a tree starts from one shoot that grows for two months and then sprouts a second branch. If each established branch begins to sprout a new branch after one months growth, and if every new branch begins to sprout its own first new branch after two months growth, how many branches does the tree have at the end of the year?
Example: The branch at right has a phyllotactic ratio of 3/8. Both 3 and 8 are Fibonacci numbers.
One plant in particular shows the Fibonacci numbers in the number of "growing points" that it has. Suppose that when a plant puts out a new shoot, that shoot has to grow two months before it is strong enough to support branching. If it branches every month after that at the growing point, we get the picture shown here.
Fibonacci in Nature
Fibonacci in Nature
Fibonacci in Music
5 3 2
8 white 13 w & b
Colour all the even numbers in blue and all the even numbers in red. What do you notice about the patterns in the colouring?
2+3 1+2
1+1
= =
=
5 3
2
The ratios of pairs of consecutive Fibonacci numbers are also represented in the graph below. The ratios approach the dashed line which represents a number around 1.618.
Fibonacci Sequence
Recursion
Recursion, in a sequence, indicates that each number in the sequence is found using previous numbers in the sequence. Some sequences, such as the Fibonacci sequence, are generated by a recursion rule along with starting values for the first two, or more, numbers in the sequence.
For the Fibonacci sequence, the starting values are F = 1 and F = 1. The recursion rule for the Fibonacci sequence
1 2
is:
Fn Fn1 Fn2
F3 F31 F32 F2 F1 1 1 2
Pascals triangle
n= 0 1 2 3 sum = 1 2 4 8 = 2n
4
5 6
16
32 64
7
8
128
256
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He died in 1240 and there is now a statue commemorating him located at the Leaning Tower end of the cemetery next to the Cathedral in Pisa.
Sources Utilized
Burton, David M., The History of Mathematics, An Introduction, p 203-226, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 2003. Eves, Howard, An Introduction to the History of Mathematics, p 179-182, Saunders College Publishing, Orlando, FL, 1990. Eves, Howard, Great Moments in Mathematics, p 117-120, The Mathematical Association of America, 1980. Eves, Howard, In Mathematical Circles, p 59-62, Prindle, Weber & Schmidt, Inc., Boston, 1969. Grattan-Guinness, Ivor, The Norton History of the Mathematicl Sciences; The Rainbow of Mathematics, p. 80-82, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1997. http://www-gap.dcs.stand.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Diophantus.html http://www-gap.dcs.stand.ac.uk/~history/Quotations/Diophantus.html http://www.lib.virginia.edu/science/parshall/diophant.html
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