REACTION PAPER ABOUT FIBONACCI SEQUENCE

What would you say if I told you that sunflower seeds, hurricanes, seashells, purple cabbage, and
planetary orbits were all connected? How could all of these things possibly be related? After
thinking about it, you may think that all of these things are connected by the common theme of
nature. You wouldn’t be wrong in the slightest, but these things have more in common than their
existence in the natural world. What else could Venus’s orbit around the sun possibly have to do
with the purple cabbage you ate for dinner last night?
These seemingly disconnected objects are related by such a fundamental, yet usually overlooked
pattern: the Fibonacci sequence. This mathematical sequence appears in more than just calculus
textbooks – in fact, this simple sequence of numbers appears just about everywhere, including
cabbage, sunflower seeds, and planetary orbits1. So all of these “random” things are related by a
sequence of numbers; why should you care? If you hadn’t previously felt a connection to the
sunflowers growing in your garden, or the developing hurricane on the opposite side of the
globe, would you care more if you knew that YOU are also related to these things by the same
sequence of numbers?
Some aspects of mathematics can be dull and tedious from start to end, much of it however is
intriguing and inspiring, when you truly see the beauty and the relevance. This is why I would
like to bring to your attention the magic of the Fibonacci numbers. If you have ever looked at a
sheet of paper and wondered Why do we use those dimensions? or looked at the leaf or an
attractive plant and wondered Why can I never find a four leaved clover? then this may be of
some interest. Many of these things are quite interconnected in a way you would not realise, and
most of them are connected by the Fibonacci sequence.
If I return to one of my original questions Why can I never find a four leaved clover? it seems
reasonable, that if you can find 3 leaved clover and 5 leaved clover, you would be able to find
the more symmetrical 4 leaved clover. Why then is it so rare to find one?

If we look closely at other examples of nature, we can perhaps find the answer. If you were to
search through your average garden, you would find the majority of flowers have 5 petals, many
have 3 or 8 or more but if you look closely, you will always find more of certain numbers,
compared to others. These numbers just so happen to be part of the Fibonacci sequence:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89…

Although, why does nature choose these numbers over others? In addition, the connection
between the real world and this sequence does not just end there; it can be found almost
everywhere we look: spirals on a snail shell, the core of an apple, geometry, art, architecture, the
stock market and even the human body. So what makes it so useful? Why is it so special?

My project intends to answer these questions and along the way discover new applications and
more examples. I will be delving into the mathematical concepts behind the nature we see every
day, the regular objects we rely on, the human body and the stock market. I shall also investigate
aspects of the golden ratio and how the Fibonacci sequence is related to this.
The Fibonacci sequence is found by adding the previous term to the term before that. For
example:

0, 1, 1, 2, ?

0 +1=1 1+1=2 1+2=3 and so on…..

Overall equation for next term: a_(n+1)= a_n+ a_(n-1)

This creates an infinite sequence of numbers and is known as a recursive sequence, as each
number is a function of the previous two. Also, as the sequence progresses the ratio between
each consecutive term seems to converge upon a single number.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89…

2/1=2 3/2=1.5 5/3=1.667 8/5=1.6 13/8=1.625 21/13=1.615…

F=1.618034…

Eventually, it converges to 1.618034… This number has a specific interest to many

mathematicians and is known as the golden ratio. It is also useful when we consider where it is
found.

If you were to take your hand and bend the index finger as full as possible, measuring the
dimensions of the rectangle created, you would find what is known as a golden rectangle. The
average height (of the intermediate phalange) would be around 3cm and the average length (of
the proximal phalange) would be 5cm.

As we can see from left this creates a shape of ratio 5:3 or simply 1.667:1 (the golden ratio).

This is only one of the many examples of golden ratio in the body. There are many, many more
some of which have been known for hundreds of years (see Da Vinci s Vitruvian man – right).

Also, the golden ratio is not just confined to the human body. Rather than cutting and apple from
pole to pole, if you were to slice in a horizontal fashion, you would find a simple five pointed
star. However, it is much more complex than meets the eye. If you were to take the distance AB
as 1 unit, the distance AC would be 1.618, the golden ratio. But why does this happen, what
make this ratio so efficient and so appealing, and why has nature adopted it?

History of the Sequence and Ratio

From the start of the Palaeozoic era, 400 million years ago, animals of divine proportions have
been roaming the earth. The most notable is the nautilus shell (right) which follows a logarithmic
spiral based on the golden ratio in rectangles.
The earliest written documentation of a special ratio belongs to the Rhind papyrus. A scroll about
6 metres long and 1/3 of a metre wide, it is one of the first mathematical handbooks. It was
discovered by Scottish Egyptologist Henry Rhind in 1858 and is believed to have been written
by Egyptian scribe, Ahmes in 1650 BC. He is believed to have copied it, from a document 200
years older, dating the first notation of the sequence to 1850 BC. However, the pyramids, built
1000 years previous, show many examples of the use of golden ratio, although many scholars
believe it is merely coincidence created by the need for right angles.

Between the 6th and 3rd centuries, Greek philosophers, mathematicians and artists used and
analysed the golden ratio. It is visible in pentagons and pentagrams throughout the period and
was attributed to Pythagoras and his followers. It was used as part of his symbol (a pentagram
with a pentagon within) and it was he, who first suspected the proportion was the basis of the
human figure.

Plato also studied the ratio naming it most blinding of mathematical relations, the key to the
physics of the cosmos. and from his lectures so did Eudoxus, whose work was used by Euclid in
his book of elements II. Here he writes one of the first definitions A straight line is said to have
been cut in extreme and mean ratio when, as the whole line is to the greater segment, so is the
greater to the less.” During his work he creates problems based on the ratio in pentagons,
equilateral triangles and some of his prepositions show the ratio to be an irrational number.

The first person to apply numbers and sequence to construct the golden ratio was Leonardo of
Pisa (full name, Leonardo Pisano Bigollo, lived 1180-1250). He was the son of an Italian
businessman from the city of Pisa and grew up within a trading colony in North Africa.

At the time, Italy and the majority of Europe was using the Roman numeral system of counting,
this was quite complex and meant most calculations required an abacus. While growing up in
Algeria he learned the Hindu-Arabic system of calculation (the familiar 0, 1, 2…). After
returning to Pisa as a young man in the thirteenth century, he recognised the superiority of this
new structure and began to spread it throughout Europe. He did this through his book the Liber
Abaci (book of abacus) published in 1202 under the nickname, Fibonacci (a contraction of filius
Bonacci, meaning son of Bonacci).

To explain the system he used the Fibonacci sequence in his famous immortal rabbits problem
(see next section of more detail). This allowed him to explain addition, subtraction and division
using the Hindu- Arabic system and in turn allowed him to popularise it through Western
Europe. Due to this he was later known as the founder of western mathematics and the “greatest
European mathematician of the middle ages”. He introduced concepts such as algebra, geometry,
the common fraction and even the square root symbol. He also considered the possibility of
negative numbers and related it to merchant problems which began with a debt.

There was very little significant work done upon the topic until 1509, when Luca Pacioli
published De Divina Proportione with the help of illustrations by Leonardo Da Vinci, who later
used this within his famous work the Vitruvian man . In 1611, German astronomer Johann
Kepler discovered the numbers within his own work on planetary motion saying as 5 is to 8, so is
8 to 13, practically, and as 8 is to 13, so is 13 to 21 almost in relation to the rings around Saturn.
It was later found that the ratio of mean distance between planets was in fact the golden ratio.

Over the next two centuries many scholars investigated the sequence, deriving formulas and
functions. In 1830, A. Braun first applied the sequence to the arrangement of bracts on a
pinecone. A decade later and J.P.M. Binet derived a formula for the value of any Fibonacci
number without the need for the previous two.

nth number= 1/(v5) ((1+v5)/2)^n- 1/(v5) ((1-v5)/2)^n

In 1920, Oxford Botanist A.H Church discovered spirals on sunflower heads corresponded to the
numbers in Fibonacci s rabbit problem (see next section). This discovery inspired botanists to
look for Fibonacci numbers elsewhere, teams then began to realise that many phyllotactic ratio s
are golden ratio s (see flower patterns and primorda). In the 1930 s, Joseph Schillinger
consciously composed a piece of music using Fibonacci intervals and Ralph Elliot began
predicting the stock market in Fibonacci periods. By the 1960 s, a lively interest had been
aroused and to this day mathematicians around the world are investigating the uses and problems
connected with the sequence.

This mysterious, yet ubiquitous interconnectivity between humans, other living beings, and the
rest of the universe, is immensely fascinating to me, and has been the major focus of this project.
Through much research and creative reflection throughout the term, my intention has been to
expose the ubiquity of the Fibonacci sequence in the universe, to provoke curiosity about its
relationship to humans, and to elicit a high level of personal and environmental awareness.
I hope that my findings and creative project kindle your own curiosity about the world’s mystery
and interconnectivity, and inspire you to take actions to protect the well-being of the
environment.
The Fibonacci numbers were first discovered by a man named Leonardo
Pisano. He was known by his nickname, Fibonacci. The Fibonacci sequence is a
sequence in which each term is the sum of the 2 numbers preceding it. The first
10 Fibonacci numbers are: (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89). These numbers
are obviously recursive.
Fibonacci was born around 1170 in Italy, and he died around 1240 in
Italy. He played an important role in reviving ancient mathematics and made
significant contributions of his own. Even though he was born in Italy he was
educated in North Africa where his father held a diplomatic post. He did a lot
of traveling with his father. He published a book called Liber abaci, in 1202,
after his return to Italy. This book was the first time the Fibonacci numbers
had been discussed. It was based on bits of Arithmetic and Algebra that
Fibonacci had accumulated during his travels with his father. Liber abaci
introduced the Hindu-Arabic place-valued decimal system and the use of Arabic
numerals into Europe. This book, though, was somewhat contraversial because it
contradicted and even proved some of the foremost Roman and Grecian
Mathematicians of the time to be false. He published many famous mathematical
books. Some of them were Practica geometriae in 1220 and Liber quadratorum in
1225.
The Fibonacci sequence is also used in the Pascal trianle. The sum of
each diagnal row is a fibonacci number. They are also in the right sequence:
1,1,2,5,8.........
Fibonacci sequence has been a big factor in many patterns of things in
nature. One has found that the fractions u/v representing the screw-like
arrangement of leaves quite often are members of the fibonacci sequence. 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. Fibonacci nmbers are also used with animals. The first problem Fibonacci
had wehn using the Fibonacci numbers was trying to figure out was how fast
rabbits could breed in ideal circumstances. Using the sequence he was ale to
approximate the answer.
The Fibonacci numbers can also be found in many other patterns. The diagram
below is what is known as the Fibonacci spiral. We can make another picture
showing the Fibonacci numbers 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,.. if we start with two small
squares of size 1, one on top of the other. Now on the right of these draw a
square of size 2 (=1+1). We can now draw a square on top of these, which has
sides 3 units long, and another on the left of the picture which as side 5. We
can continue adding squares around the picture, each new square having a side
which is as long as the sum of the latest two squares drawn.

If we take the ratio of two successive numbers in Fibonacci's series, (1 1 2 3 5

8 1 3..) we find:

1/1=1; 2/1=2; 3/2=1.5; 5/3=1.666...; 8/5=1.6; 13/8=1.625;

It is easier to see what is happening if we plot the ratios on a graph:

Greeks called the golden ratio and has the value 1.61803. It has some
interesting properties, for instance, to square it, you just add 1. To take its
reciprocal, you just subtract 1. This means all its powers are just whole
multiples of itself plus another whole integer (and guess what these whole
integers are? Yes! The Fibonacci numbers again!) Fibonacci numbers are a big
factor in Math, The Golden Ratio, The Pascal Triangle, the production of many
species, plants, and much much more.