Mathematics in the Modern

World
THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS
 Mathematics in Our World

 Theheart of mathematics is more than just numbers, numbers which many

supposed to be meaningless and uninteresting.
 The different shapes you see around, the changing hues of the sky from
sunrise to sunset, the clouds transforming from stratus to cumulus, the
contour of the rainbow in the horizon are all beautiful because of harmony.
 Thedegree of changing hues of color has to be of exact measurement to
appear pleasing and harmonious to the human eye.
“ And it is mathematics that reveals the simplicities of
nature, and permits us to generalize from simple
examples to the complexities of the real world. It took
many people from many different areas of human activity
to turn a mathematical insight into a useful product.
”
Stewart, 1995, pp. 71-72
 Fibonacci Sequence

 This sequence of numbers forms the set {1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …}

 Patternwas discovered by Fibonacci, great European mathematician of the
Middle Ages.
 His full name in Italian is Leonardo Pisano, which means Leonardo of Pisa,
because he was born in Pisa, Italy around 1175.
 Fibonacci is the shortened word for the Latin term “filius Bonacci,” which
stands for “son of Bonaccio.” His father’s name was Guglielmo Bonaccio.
 Johannes Kepler

 The German mathematician and astronomer (known for his laws of

planetary motion) observed that dividing a Fibonacci number by the number
immediately before it in the ordered sequence yields a quotient
approximately equal to 1.618.
 This amazing ratio is denoted by 𝜑 called the Golden Ratio.
“ Kepler

Theorem of
once

Pythagoras; the
claimed
that “geometry has two great treasures; one is the
other,
the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The
first we may compare to a
measure of gold, the second we may name a precious
jewel” ”
Stakhov and Olsen, 2009
 The Golden Ratio

 The Golden Ratio is so fascinating that proportions of the human body such
as the face follow the so-called Divine Proportion.
 The closer the proportion of the body parts to the Golden Ratio, the more
aesthetically pleasing and beautiful the body is.
 Many painters, including the famous Leonardo da Vinci, were so fascinated
with the Golden Ratio that they used it in their works of art.
“ The Pythagoreans believed that the nature of the universe
was directly related to
mathematics and that the whole numbers and the ratios
formed by the whole numbers
could be used to describe and represent all natural events.
”
Aufmann, 2014
 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)

A remarkable mathematician who made many contributions to the

mathematics of probabilities.
 Animportant aspect of studying probabilities is the so-called combinatorics,
a mathematical field pioneered by Blaise Pascal, the mathematician whose
famous Pascal’s Triangle finds useful application in algebra and statistics.
 Nature has its laws. These laws, such as the law of freely falling bodies,
were laid down by Isaac Newton.
 Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed modern calculus in the 17th
century. This development would not have been possible without the
Cartesian coordinate system-- the fusion of geometry and algebra by Rene
Descartes (1596-1650).
 Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

 who made a name for his mass and energy equation,

E= mc^2, would not have gone farther in his theory of relativity without
mathematics.
 Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934)

a Polish chemist and mathematician received the 1911 Nobel Prize in

chemistry for developing techniques of isolating radioactive elements.
 Biological scientists have also recently used mathematics extensively to
theoretically investigate treatment procedures by modeling and simulating
biological processes.
 Without mathematics, all these inventions and discoveries are not possible.
 The 20 century saw many breakthroughs in the fields the of sciences and
engineering which creatively and critically employed mathematics.
 From the first personal computer named Programma 101 that was released in
1965, to the first landing of man on the moon on July 20, 1969, and to the first
Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite launched in 1989 for military use, all
of these show that Mathematics plays a vital role in the affairs of humanity.
 Today, there are 24 GPS satellite in orbit helping people locate their travel
destinations such as Google Maps or Waze on personal computers, tablets, or
smartphones.
 Despite all these scientific achievements, many “millennials” are hesitant in
taking science courses partly because they feel anxious of anything
intimately connected with mathematics.
 The interests of millennials in gadgets, games, and technologies that appeal
to their senses have also interfered with the study of mathematics and the
sciences.
 Unknowingly, however, these technologies employ gadgets, to the
instructions one places on the newly bought device which operate based on
mathematical logic.
 Ian Stewart (1995)

 explains in his book Nature’s Numbers that mathematics is a systematic way

of digging out the rules and structures that lie behind some observed pattern
or regularity and using these rules and structures to explain what is going
on.
 Now,think of one of the most loved animation characters Dora the Explorer.
When Dora gets lost in the jungle, what does she needs? A map.
 Thanks to Rene Descartes, who made the Cartesian map for without it, Dora
will never find her way.
 Mathematics is everywhere.

 Mathematics is everywhere because it finds many practical applications in

daily life.
 God, the Mathematician Architect, designs everything in this universe to
follow rules or formulas.
 Whether following regular or irregular patterns, His creation benefits
humankind, His greatest masterpiece.
“ As Johannes Kepler wrote, “Those laws of
nature are within the grasp of the human mind; God
wanted us to recognize them by
creating us after his image so that we could share in His
thoughts”
”
Stewart, 2020
 Fibonacci Numbers

 Fibonacci observed numbers in nature.

 His most popular contribution perhaps is the number that is seen in the
petals of flowers.
 Fibonacci Numbers

 A calla lily flower has only 1 petal, euphorbia has 2, trillium has 3, hibiscus
has 5, cosmos flower has 8, corn marigold has 13, some asters have 21, and
a sunflower can have 34, 55, or 89 petals.
 Surprisingly,these petal counts represent the first ten numbers of the
Fibonacci sequence.
 Fibonacci Numbers

 Not all petal numbers of flowers, however follow this pattern discovered by
Fibonacci.
 Some examples include the Brassicaceae family having four petals.
 Remarkably, many of the flowers abide by the pattern observed by
Fibonacci.
 Fibonacci Numbers

 The principle behind the Fibonacci sequence is as follows:

 Let xn be the nth integer in the Fibonacci sequence, the next (n+1)th term xn+1 is
determined by adding nth and the (n–1)th integers.
 Consider the first few terms below: Let x1 = 1 be the first term, and x2 = 1 be the second
term, the third term x3 is found by x3 = x1 + x2 = 1 + 1 = 2.
 The fourth term x4 is 2 + 1 = 3, the sum of the third and the second term.
 To find the new nth Fibonacci number, simply add the two numbers immediately preceding
this nth number.
 These numbers arranged in increasing order can be written as the sequence {1,
 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 24, 55, 89, …}.
 Fibonacci Numbers

 Fibonacci Spirals in Sunflowers.

 Similarly,when we count the clockwise and counterclockwise spirals in the
sunflower seed, it is interesting to note that the numbers 34 and 5 occur—
which are consecutive Fibonacci numbers.
 Fibonacci Numbers

 Pineapples also have spirals formed by their hexagonal nubs.

 The nubs on many pineapples form eight spirals that diagonally upward to
the left and 13 that rotate diagonally upward to the right, again these are
consecutive Fibonacci numbers (Aufmann, 2015).
Fibonacci Numbers
 Fibonacci Numbers

 The same is also observed in the clockwise and counterclockwise spirals of

a pine cone.
 Fibonacci Numbers

 According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, “a honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax

cells built by honeybees in their nest to contain their brood and stores of honey.” But
why build hexagonal cells?
 In the experiment, Jinjin Math a student is asked to step on one mass made up of
square cells and the result is unbelievable! The mass with hexagonal cells resisted the
weight of the student while the mass with square cells was completely destroyed.
 It
is amazing to know that the mass made up of hexagonal cells is stronger than the one
made up of square cells.
 Moreover, these patterns exist naturally in the world.
Fibonacci Numbers
 Fibonacci Numbers

 Another interesting observation is the rabbit population beginning from a baby pair of
the first generation.
 Since it takes the first generation to mature before giving birth to an offspring, there is an
adult pair for the second generation, which is ready for reproduction.
 So, there are two rabbit pairs, the parents and baby pairs, of the third generation.
 Next, the adult pair begets a baby pair but the previous baby pair simply matures, so a
family of three rabbit pairs for the fourth generation exists, and so on.
 The number of total rabbit pairs at each generation constitutes a Fibonacci Sequence.
Fibonacci Numbers
 Fibonacci Numbers

 Denoting by the Fibonacci sequence of generations Fn n is the set of Fibonacci numbers

{Fn}, that is:
 {Fn} = {1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, …}.
 In particular, denote F1 = 1 for the 1st generation, F2 = 1 for the 2nd generation, F3 = 2
for the 3rd generation, F4 = 3 for the 4th generation, and so on.
 It is interesting to point out that the Fibonacci numbers Fn obey the following
relationship:
 Fibonacci Numbers

 That is, Fn is given by the sum of the two previous Fibonacci numbers, 𝐹𝑛−1 and
𝐹𝑛−2, 𝑛 ≥ 3.
 For example:
 F3 = F2 + F1
 F3 = 1 + 1
 F3 = 2
 It is also seen that F4 = F3 + F2 = 2 + 1 = 3 and F10 = F9 + F8 = 34 + 21 = 55.
Fibonacci Numbers
 The Golden Ratio

 The ratio of two consecutive Fibonacci numbers as n becomes large, approaches the
golden ratio; that is,

 This can be verified by measuring some parts of the human body: the length of the arm,
height, the distance of the fingertips to the elbow.
 The Golden Ratio

 According to Markowsky (1992), “the ratio of a

person’s height to the height of his or her navel is
roughly the golden ratio.
 We are not told why this is significant; the navel is a
scar of no great importance in an adult human
being.”
 You may verify this for yourself. Did you get a value
close to 1.6180339887 …?
 The Golden Ratio

 The ratio between the forearm and the hand also yields a value close to the golden
ratio!
 The Golden Ratio

 Another name for golden ratio is divine proportion.

This must be so because human beauty is based on
the divine proportion.
 center of the pupil: bottom of the teeth: bottom of
chin
 the outer and inner edge of an eye: center of nose
 outer edges of lips: upper ridges of lips
 width of the center tooth: width of the second tooth
 width of an eye: width of the iris
 The Golden Ratio

 The golden ratio denoted by 𝜑 (Phi) is sometimes called the golden mean or golden
section:
 The Golden Ratio

 The golden ratio can be expressed as the ratio between two numbers if the latter is also
the ratio between the sum and the larger of the two numbers.
 Geometrically, it can also be visualized as a rectangle perfectly formed by a square and
another by a square and another rectangle, which can be repeated infinitely inside each
section.
The Golden Ratio
 The Golden Ratio

 Shapes and figures that bear in the golden rectangle are generally considered to be
aesthetically pleasing.
 As such, the ratio is visible in many works of art and architecture such as in the Mona
Lisa, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Parthenon.
 In fact, the human DNA molecule also contains Fibonacci umbers, being 34 ångstroms
long by 21 ångstroms wide for each full cycle of the double helix spiral.
 It is also visible the patterns of golden spiral in our nature.
The Golden Ratio