The sum of the two numbers preceding it is what is called the "fibonacci sequence". The sequence starts at 0 and goes on forever. A mathematical equation can be used to describe the sequence.
The Great Pyramid at Giza and the seashell that graced the cover of your school mathematics textbook are two examples of the special properties of the numerical sequence. The true history of the series is a bit more down to earth.
The story behind the sequence.
The first thing to know is that the sequence is not the original one. The Italian mathematician who we call Leonardo Fibonacci was born around 1170, and originally known as Leonardo of Pisa, according to a mathematician.
Historians came up with the nickname of the mathematician in the 19th century to distinguish him from another famous Leonardo of Pisa.
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The author of "Finding Fibonacci: The quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World" said that Leonardo of Pisa did not discover the sequence. The Hindu-Arabic numeral system was first used in 200 B.C. before Leonardo of Pisa.
It's been around for a long time, according to Devlin.
The portrait was of Leonardo Fibonacci, who was thought to have discovered the famous sequence. He introduces the sequence with a problem involving rabbits in 1202. The image was taken by Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis.
Leonardo of Pisa published a book called "Liber Abaci" in 1202.
Leonardo of Pisa introduces a sequence with a problem involving rabbits. Start with a male and a female rabbit. They produce a litter of rabbits after a month. After a month, the rabbits reproduce and out comes another male and female, who can mate after a month. Ignore the biology here. How many rabbits would you have after a year?
The formula used to get to the answer is now known as the Fibonacci sequence.
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The Western world was introduced to the sequence. Leonardo of Pisa never mentioned the sequence again after a few paragraphs on breeding rabbits. It was mostly forgotten until the 19th century, when mathematicians worked out more about the sequence's mathematical properties. The rabbit problem was officially named in 1877 by French mathematician douard Lucas.
The golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence are eloquent equations, but they aren't as magical as they may seem. The image is from Shutterstock.
Why is the sequence important?
There are a few places in nature where the Fibonacci sequence can be found. It's not some secret code that governs the architecture of the universe.
The golden ratio is an irrational number that has a great deal of its own dubious lore, and it's connected to the Fibonacci sequence. The golden ratio is 1.6180339887498948482, which is the ratio of successive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence.
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Some types of plant growth are captured by the golden ratio. The golden ratio is followed by the spiral arrangement of leaves or petals on some plants. According to "Phyllotaxis: A Systemic Study in Plant Morphogenesis", pinecones have a golden spiral. There are many plants that do not follow this rule.
"It's not 'God's only rule' for growing things, let's put it that way," he said.
The seashell and a man.
The seashell known as the nautilus does not grow new cells according to the sequence. When people start to draw connections to the human body, art and architecture, links to the Fibonacci sequence go from tenuous to downright fictional.
"It would take a large book to document all the misinformation about the golden ratio, much of which is simply the repetition of the same errors by different authors," George Markowsky wrote in a 1992 paper.
The book "Aesthetic Research" by the German psychologist Adolf Zeising was the source of much of this misinformation. The golden ratio was claimed to be the basis for the proportions of the human body. The golden ratio sprouted "golden rectangles," "golden triangles," and many other theories about where these dimensions come from.
The golden ratio can be found in the dimensions of the Pyramid at Giza, the Parthenon, Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" and a bunch of Renaissance buildings. The ratio being "uniquely pleasing" to the human eye has been stated uncritically. He said that all the claims are false.
We're good pattern recognizers. We can see a pattern even if it's not there. "It's just a bunch of thinking."
Adam Mann contributed to the article.
Live Science published the original article.
