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

Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170 c. 1250) aka Fibonacci

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.

The Fibonacci Numbers

The number pattern that you have been using is known as the Fibonacci sequence.

1 1 2

}+

The Fibonacci Numbers

The number pattern that you have been using is known as the Fibonacci sequence.

1 1 2 3

}+

The Fibonacci Numbers

The number pattern that you have been using is known as the Fibonacci sequence.

1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

}+

55

These numbers can be seen in many natural situations

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

Fibonacci and his rabbits

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.

The Fibonacci Problem

How Many Pairs of Rabbits Are Created by One Pair in One Year

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.

Fig. 2-69, p. 113

Fig. 2-70, p. 114

The Fibonacci Problem

The solution to this question is shown in the table below. The sequence that appears three times in the table, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, is called the Fibonacci Sequence.

Fibonacci Numbers In Nature

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.

The Fibonacci Numbers in Plants

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

The number of petals on a flower are often Fibonacci numbers

The Fibonacci Numbers in Plants

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?

Fibonacci Numbers In Nature

Plants grow in a spiral pattern. The ratio of the number of spirals to the number of branches is called the phyllotactic ratio.

The numbers in the phyllotactic ratio are usually Fibonacci numbers.

Fibonacci Numbers In Nature

Example: The branch at right has a phyllotactic ratio of 3/8. Both 3 and 8 are Fibonacci numbers.

The Fibonacci Numbers in Plants

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.

A plant that grows very much like this is the "sneezewort.

The Fibonacci Numbers in Plants

Fibonacci in Nature

The lengths of bones in a hand are Fibonacci numbers.

Fibonacci in Nature

Fibonacci in Music
5 3 2

The intervals between keys on a piano are Fibonacci numbers.

8 white 13 w & b

Patterns in Fibonacci Numbers

Complete the Fibonacci Numbers sheet using column addition 1+1 1+2 2+3 3+5 5+8 8+13 13+21 = = = = = = = 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

Colour all the even numbers in blue and all the even numbers in red. What do you notice about the patterns in the colouring?

Patterns in Fibonacci Numbers

55+89 34+55 21+34 13+21 8+13 5+8 3+5 = = = = = = = 144 89 55 34 21 13 8 ratio 1.618 1.618 1.618 1.619 1.615

2+3 1+2
1+1

= =
=

5 3
2

1.625 1.6 1.666 1.5

The Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio

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

The Fibonacci sequence is the sequence of numbers 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,

Any number in the sequence is called a Fibonacci number. The sequence is usually written F1, F2, F3, , Fn,

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.

Fibonacci Sequence (cont.)

For the Fibonacci sequence, the starting values are F = 1 and F = 1. The recursion rule for the Fibonacci sequence
1 2

is:

Example: Find the third number in the

sequence using the formula.
Let n = 3.

Fn Fn1 Fn2

F3 F31 F32 F2 F1 1 1 2

The generating function for the Fibonacci numbers is

Fibonacci Number in Pascal Triangle

Pascals triangle
n= 0 1 2 3 sum = 1 2 4 8 = 2n

4
5 6

16
32 64

7
8

128
256

Some Famous Numbers

3.14159265 3589793238 4626433832 7950288419 7169399375 10
e 2.71828182 8459045235 3602874713 5266249775 7247093699 95

1.61803398 87 4989484820 4586834365 6381177203 091798057

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Fibonacci died in 1240

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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