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Fibonacci Numbers, the Golden section and the Golden String

Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section

This is the

Home page

for the Fibonacci numbers, the Golden section and the Golden string.The

Fibonacci numbers

are

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...

(add the last two to get the next)The

golden section numbers

are

±0·61803 39887... and ±1·61803 39887...

The

golden string

1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 ...

a sequence of 0s and 1s which is closely related to the Fibonacci numbers and the golden section.

There is a large amount of information at this site (more than 200 pages if it was printed), so if allyou want is a quick introduction

thenthe first link takes you to

an introductory page

on the Fibonaccinumbers and where they appear in Nature.The rest of this page is a brief introduction to all the web pages at this site on

Fibonacci Numbers

the

Golden Section

and the

Golden String

together with

their many applications

.What's New?

7 June 2001A recent back-up error means that I've just lost all emails sent to me during March and April.Please can you re-send your email if you've had no reply - sorry!

Fibonacci Numbers and Golden sections in Nature

Fibonacci Numbers and Nature Fibonacci and the original problem about rabbits where the series first appears, thefamily trees of cows and bees, the golden ratio and the Fibonacci series, theFibonacci Spiral and sea shell shapes, branching plants, flower petal and seeds,leaves and petal arrangements, on pineapples and in apples, pine cones and leaf arrangements. All involve the Fibonacci numbers - and here's how and why.The Golden section in Nature Continuing the theme of the first page but with specific reference to

why

the golden

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Fibonacci Numbers, the Golden section and the Golden String

section appears in nature. Now with a Geometer's Sketchpad dynamicdemonstration.

The Puzzling World of Fibonacci Numbers

A pair of pages with plenty of playful problems to perplex the professional and the part-time puzzler!TheEasier Fibonacci Puzzles page has the Fibonacci numbers in brick wall patterns, Fibonacci bee lines, seatingpeople in a row and the Fibonacci numbers again, giving change and a game withmatch sticks and even with electrical resistance and lots more puzzles all involvethe Fibonacci numbers!TheHarder Fibonacci Puzzles page still has problems where the Fibonacci numbers are the answers - well, all but ONE,but WHICH one? If you know the Fibonacci Jigsaw puzzle where rearranging the 4wedge-shaped pieces makes an additional square appear, did you know the

same

puzzle can be rearranged to make a different shape where a square now

disappears

?For these puzzles, I do not know of any simple explanations of

why

the Fibonaccinumbers occur - and

that's the real puzzle - can you supply a simple reasonwhy??

The Intriguing Mathematical World of Fibonacci and Phi

The golden section numbers are also written using the greek letters Phi and phi .The Mathematical Magic of the Fibonacci numbers looks at the patterns in the Fibonacci numbers themselves, the Fibonaccinumbers in Pascal's Triangle and using Fibonacci series to generate all right-angled triangles with integers sides based on Pythagoras Theorem.Impress your friends with a simple Fibonacci numbers trick!There are many investigations for you to do to find patterns for yourself aswell as a complete list of...The first 500 Fibonacci numbers... completely factorised up to Fib(300) and all the prime Fibonaccinumbers are identified.A Formula for the Fibonacci numbers Is there a direct formula to compute Fib(n) just from n? Yes there is!

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Fibonacci Numbers, the Golden section and the Golden String

This page shows several and why they involve Phi and phi - thegolden section numbers.Fibonacci bases and other ways of representing integers We use base 10 (decimal) for written numbers but computers usebase 2 (binary). What happens if we use the Fibonacci numbers as thecolumn headers?The Golden Section - the Number and Its Geometry The golden section is also called the golden ratio, the golden mean and thedivine proportion. It is closely connected with the Fibonacci series and has avalue of (5

1)/2 which is 0·61803... which we call phi on these pages. Ithas some interesting properties such as 1/phi is the same as 1+phi and wecall this value Phi= (5 + 1)/2.Two pages are devoted to its applications in Geometry - first in flat (or twodimensional) geometry and then in the solid geometry of three dimensions.Fantastic Flat Phi Facts See some of the unexpected places that the golden section (Phi)occurs in Geometry and in Trigonometry: pentagons and decagons,paper folding and Penrose Tilings where we phind phi phrequently!The Golden Geometry of the Solid Section or Phi in 3 dimensions The golden section occurs in the most symmetrical of all the three-dimensional solids - the Platonic solids. What are the best shapes forfair dice? Why are there only 5?The next pages are about the number Phi = 1·61803.. itself and its closecousin phi = 0·61803... .Phi's Fascinating Figures - the Golden Section number All the powers of Phi are just whole multiples of itself plus anotherwhole number. Did you guess that these multiples

and

the wholenumbers are, of course, the Fibonacci numbers again? Each power of Phi is the sum of the previous two - just like the Fibonacci numberstoo. Introduction to Continued FractionsAn optional page thatexpands on the idea of a continued fraction introduced in the Phi'sFascinating Figures page.

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