CHAPTER 1
MATHEMATICS
IN OUR WORLD
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Patterns in nature are visible regularities found:
Natural World Universe
Patterns recurring in different context can sometimes be
modelled mathematically.
Mathematics is the formal system on recognizing, classifying,
and exploiting patterns.
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Mathematics – organize and systematize ideas about patterns
in nature.
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Patterns possess utility and beauty.
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Patterns in stars which move in circles across the sky each day.
The weather seasons cycle each year (e.g. winter, spring
summer, fall).
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Snowflakes contain sixfold
symmetry which no two
are exactly the same.
There are evidences that
hexagonal snowflakes have
an atomic geometry of ice
crystals.
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Animals and fish stripes and spots attest to mathematical
regularities in biological growth and form.
Evolutionary and functional arguments are explain by the
patterns of animals.
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Patterns & Numbers in Nature and the World
Patterns and Regularities
Types of pattern: Spirals
Symmetry
Fractals
Symmetry
Symmetry is a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion
of balance or an object is invariant to any of various
transformations (reflection, rotation or scaling).
There are two main types of symmetry, bilateral and radial.
Bilateral symmetry is a symmetry in which the left and
right sides of the organism can be divided into
approximately mirror image of each other along the midline.
Bilateral Symmetry
Symmetry exists in living
things such as in insects,
animals, plants, flowers, and
others.
Animals mainly have
bilateral or vertical
symmetry, even leaves of
plants and some flowers
such as orchids.
Radial Symmetry
Radial symmetry (or rotational symmetry) is a type of
symmetry around a fixed point known as the center and it can
be classified as either cyclic or dihedral.
Plants often have radial or rotational symmetry, as to flowers
and some groups of animals.
A five-fold symmetry is found in the echinoderms, the group
which includes starfish (dihedral-D5 symmetry), sea urchins,
and sea lilies (dihedral-D5 symmetry).
Radial symmetry suits organisms like sea anemones whose
adults do not move and jellyfish (dihedral-D4 symmetry).
Radial Symmetry
Radial symmetry is also evident in different kinds of flowers.
Radial Symmetry
Snowflakes have six-fold symmetry; each flake's structure
forms a record of the varying conditions during its
crystallization, with nearly the same pattern of growth on each
of its six arms.
Generally, crystals have a variety of symmetries and crystal
habits; some are cubic or octahedral.
Fractals
Fractal is curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the
same statistical character as the whole.
It is a class of highly irregular shapes that are related to
continents, coastlines, and snowflakes.
It is use to model
structures in which similar
patterns recur at
progressively smaller
scales, and in describing
partly random or chaotic
phenomena such as crystal
growth, fluid turbulence,
and galaxy formation
Fractals
Fractals can be seen in some plants, trees, leaves, and others.
Spirals
A logarithmic spiral (or growth spiral) is a self-similar spiral
curve which often appears in nature.
It was first described by Rene Descartes and was later
investigated by Jacob Bernoulli.
Spirals are more evident in plants.
Spirals can also be seen in typhoon, whirlpool, galaxy, tail of
chameleon, and shell among others.
Spirals
Behavior of Nature
Behavior of nature can be observed around us.
Natural regularities of nature:
Symmetry Fractals Spirals
Trees Meanders Waves
Foams Tessellations Cracks
Stripes Spots
Golden Ratio can be found in the beauty of nature, the growth
patterns of many plants, insects, and the universe.
Behavior of Nature
Honeycombs of the bees show specific
regular repeating hexagons.
It uses the least amount of wax to store the
honey giving a strong structure with no
gaps.
Zebra’s coat, the alternating pattern of
blacks and white are due to mathematical
rules that govern the pigmentation
chemicals of its skin.
Behavior of Nature
Spider webs illustrate a beautiful pattern.
The spider creates a structure by
performing innate steps.
The nautilus shell has natural pattern
which contains a spiral shape called
logarithmic spiral.
Behavior of Nature
Age of the trees can be determined by
applying dendrochronology which is a
scientific method of dating based on the
amount of rings found in the core of a tree.
Turtles have growth rings called “scutes”
which are hexagonal.
Scutes estimates the age of the turtle.
Smallest scute is in the center and is the
oldest one, while the largest ones on the
outside are the newer ones.
Behavior of Nature
Lightning during storms
creates fractals.
Foam bubbles formed by
trapping pockets of gas in a
liquid or solid.
Cracks can also be found on the
barks of trees which show some
sort of weakness in the bark.
The meander is one of a series of
regular sinuous curves, bends,
loops, turns, or windings in the
channel of the body of water.
Behavior of Nature
Hurricanes rotates, the enormous cloud bands form golden
spiral.
Galaxies form the same way as the golden spiral.
The waves of the sea also move in golden spiral and even the
fluid dynamics create golden spiral.
Fibonacci Sequence
The Fibonacci sequence is the sequence f1, f2, f3, f4, … which has
its first two terms f1 and f2 both equal to 1 and satisfies
thereafter the recursion formula fn = fn–1 + fn–2.
The sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, …
is called the Fibonacci sequence and its terms the Fibonacci
numbers.
Golden Rectangle
A golden rectangle can be broken into squares the size of the
next Fibonacci number down and below.
Fibonacci spiral –
Take a golden
rectangle, break it
down into smaller
squares based from
Fibonacci sequence
and divide each with
an arc.
Flower Petals
Flower petals exhibit the Fibonacci number:
White calla lily contains 1 petal
Euphorbia contains 2 petals
Trillium contains 3 petals
Columbine contains 5 petals
Flower Petals
Flower petals exhibit the Fibonacci number:
Bloodroot contains 8 petals
Black-eyed susan contains 13 petals
Sasha daisy contains 21 petals
Field daisies contains 34, and other types of daisies
contain 55, and 89 petals.
Sunflower
The sunflower seed conveys the Fibonacci
sequence.
The pattern of two spirals goes in opposing
directions (clockwise and counterclockwise).
The no. of clockwise spirals and
counterclockwise spirals are consecutive
Fibonacci numbers and usually contains 34
and 55 seeds.
Pineapple Spirals
Pineapple spirals formed by their hexagonal nubs.
The nubs on form 5 spirals and 8 spirals, or 8 spirals and 13
spirals that rotate diagonally upward to the right depending on
the size of the pineapple.
The numbers 5, 8, and 13 are Fibonacci numbers.
Pine Cone Spirals
Pine cone spirals from the center
have 5 arms and 8 arms, or 8 arms
and 13 arms, depending on the
size, which again two Fibonacci
numbers.
Golden Ratio
Luca Pacioli found the relationship between
Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio.
The golden ratio was first called as the Divine
Proportion in the early 1500s in Leonardo da
Vinci’s work was explored by Luca Pacioli
(Italian mathematician) entitled “De Devina
Proportione” in 1509.
Luca Pacioli
Da Vinci’s drawings of the five platonic solids
and it was probably da Vinci who first called it
the “section aurea” Latin for Golden Section.
Golden Ratio
Two quantities are in the Golden ratio if their ratio is the same
of their sum to the larger of the two quantities.
The Golden Ratio is the relationship between numbers on the
Fibonacci sequence where plotting the relationships on scales
results in a spiral shape
Golden Rectangle
The Fibonacci numbers can be applied to the
proportions of a rectangle, called the Golden
rectangle.
Golden Rectangle is known as one of the most visually
satisfying of all geometric forms – hence, the
appearance of the Golden ratio in art.
The Golden rectangle is also related to the Golden
spiral, which is created by making adjacent squares of
Fibonacci dimensions.
Golden Rectangle
The golden ratio is the limit of the ratios of
successive terms of the Fibonacci sequence
(or any Fibonacci-like sequence), as originally
shown by Johannes Kepler (1571–1630).
Johannes Kepler
Golden Ratio
Golden
Rectangle
Golden Ratio in Nature
Golden Ratio in Nature
Golden Ratio in Human Body
Many parts of the body are
in pair like arms, legs, eyes,
buds.
Parts of the human body
follow the Fibonacci, 2
hands with with 5 digits,
and 8 fingers each contains
3 section.
The ratio of forearm to hand
is phi and other parts of the
human body.
Golden Ratio in Arts
Phidias (490 BC – 430 BC) widely used the
golden ratio in his works of sculpture.
The exterior dimension of the Parthenon in
Athens, Greece embodies the golden ratio.
Golden Ratio in Arts – Renaissance Artists
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (1452–1519) or
known as Leonardo da Vinci was into invention,
painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music,
mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy,
geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history,
and cartography.
The Last Supper Vitruvian Ma Monalisa St. Jerome
Golden Ratio in Arts – Renaissance Artists
Michelangelo di Lodovico Simon (1475–1564) or
known as Michelangelo was a painter, architect,
poet, and engineer from the Renaissance.
He was considered the greatest living artist of his
time.
Golden Ratio in Arts – Renaissance Artists
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483–1520) or
known as Raphael was also a painter and
architect from the Renaissance.
Copyright 2018: Mathematics in the Modern World by Winston S. Sirug, Ph.D.
Golden Ratio in Arts – Architecture
The Great Pyramid of Giza built 4700 BC in Ahmes Papyrus of
Egypt is with proportion according to a “Golden Ratio.”
The length of each side of the base is 756 feet with a height of
481 feet.
The ratio of the base to the height is roughly 1.5717, which is
close to the Golden ratio.
Golden Ratio in Arts – Architecture
Notre Dame is a Gothic Cathedral in Paris, built in between
1163 and 1250.
Taj Mahal in India used the golden ratio in its construction and
was completed in 1648.
Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartes in Paris, France also exhibits
the golden ratio.
Notre Dame Taj Mahal Chartes Cathedral
Golden Ratio in Arts – Architecture
United Nations Building, the window configuration reveal
golden proportion.
Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, erected in 1889 is an iron lattice.
CN Tower in Toronto, the tallest tower and freestanding
structure in the world, contains the golden ratio in its design.
Golden Ratio in Designs
PROBLEM SOLVING
PROBLEM SOLVING
