MATHEMATICS IN THE

MODERN WORLD
 LESSON 1:
PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN NATURE
 LESSON 1:
PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN NATURE

The word mathematics comes from the Greek word “máthēma” (noun)
which means "learning”.

Mathematics has no universally accepted definition (Tobies, 2012).

According to Webster’s dictionary, “Mathematics is the science of number
and their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations and
abstractions and of space configurations and generalizations.
 LESSON 1:
PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN NATURE

• Here are some definitions of mathematics from famous mathematicians:

•  Mathematics is the science of quantity. – Aristotle
•  Mathematics is the language in which god has written in the universe. - Galileo
•  The science of indirect measurement. - Auguste Comte
•  Mathematics is the classification and study of all possible patterns. - Walter
Warwick Sawyer
•  Mathematics is our one and only strategy for understanding the complexity of
nature. – Ralph Abraham
•  Mathematics is a formal system of thought for recognizing, classifying, and
exploiting patterns and relationships. - Stewart
 PATTERNS IN NATURE

• Mathematics shapes the world around us! One of the things about
Mathematics that we love the most is it’s uncanny ability to reveal
hidden beautiful patterns in our everyday life, the nature around us.
• What number comes next in
• 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, ?
• What is the pattern in getting the next number?
 PATTERNS IN NATURE
• A pattern is an organized arrangement of objects in space or time. It must
have something that is repeated either exactly or according to recognizable
transformations. It is the opposite of chaos.
• Natural patterns include symmetry, stripe, spot, crack, spiral, tessellation,
foam, wave, dunes and fractal.
• Symmetry is when a shape looks identical to its original shape after being
flipped or turned. The two main types of symmetry are reflective and
rotational. Reflective, or line, symmetry means that one half of an image is
the mirror image of the other half (think of a butterfly's wings). Rotational
symmetry means that the object or image can be turned around a center
point and match itself some number of times (as in a five-pointed star).
 PATTERNS IN NATURE
• Crack are linear openings that form in materials to relieve stress. The
pattern of cracks indicates whether the material is elastic or not. Some
examples are old pottery surface, drying inelastic mud, and palm trunk
with branching vertical cracks.
• Tesselation or tiling forms a class of patterns found in nature. The
arrays of hexagonal cells in a honeycomb or the diamond-shaped scales
that pattern snake skin are natural examples of tessellation patterns.
• Fractal pattern is when an object exhibits self-similar shape or form at
any scale and repeat itself overtime. Trees are natural fractals, patterns
that repeat smaller and smaller copies of themselves to create the
biodiversity of a forest.
 PATTERNS IN NATURE
• Here are some examples of patterns in nature.

Phyllotaxis of spiral aloe Honeycomb is a Stripes of a zebra

The tiger face shows a natural tessellation
bilateral symmetry

Branching pattern Palm trunk with branching

of a tree is a fractal vertical cracks 
 
 NUMBERS IN NATURE
• The natural world is full of sets of numbers. The Fibonacci sequence
(0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on), that is, it follows a trivial
logic in which the sum of the later two numbers gives rise to the next
number in the sequence. It is a simple pattern, but it appears to be a
kind of built-in numbering system to the universe.
• An interesting fact is that the number of petals on a flower always turns
out to be a fibonacci number.
 NUMBERS IN NATURE

Another example is if you look at the bottom of

pine cone, and count clockwise and anti-
clockwise number of spirals, they turn out to be
adjacent fibonacci numbers.

https://medium.com/math-%CF%80rates/beauty-of-numbers-and-patterns-a-world-shaped-by-math-71d240c4ee05
 NUMBERS IN NATURE
The head of a flower is also subject to
Fibonaccian processes. Typically, seeds are
produced at the center, and then migrate
towards the outside to fill all the space.
Snail shells and nautilus shells
follow the logarithmic spiral, as
does the cochlea of the inner ear.
It can also be seen in the horns of
certain goats, and the shape of
certain spider's webs.
The unique properties of the
Golden Rectangle provides
another example. This shape, a
rectangle in which the ratio of the
sides a/b is equal to the golden
mean (phi), can result in a nesting
process that can be repeated into
infinity — and which takes on the
form of a spiral. It's call the
logarithmic spiral, and it abounds
in nature.
 NUMBERS IN NATURE
The head of a flower is also subject to
Fibonaccian processes. Typically, seeds are
produced at the center, and then migrate
towards the outside to fill all the space.
Snail shells and nautilus shells
follow the logarithmic spiral, as
does the cochlea of the inner ear.
It can also be seen in the horns of
certain goats, and the shape of
certain spider's webs.
The unique properties of the
Golden Rectangle provides
another example. This shape, a
rectangle in which the ratio of the
sides a/b is equal to the golden
mean (phi), can result in a nesting
process that can be repeated into
infinity — and which takes on the
form of a spiral. It's call the
logarithmic spiral, and it abounds
in nature.