Project: Fibonacci Sequence

1187 Words3 Pages

Azeena Hassan
Math 301
Project #1 - Fibonacci Sequence
Fibonacci also known as Leonard of Pisa was born in the early 1770’s AD, and has had a huge impact on today’s math world. He made his mathematical discoveries along the Meditterainean coast by learning from the locals. With inspiration from the Hindi-Arabic numerical system, Fibonnacci created the decimal system that we still use today. One of his most famous of discoveries is known as the Fibonnacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so on. He discovered this sequence through the analysis of a rabbit population. His ananlysis lead him to realizing that if you add the last two numbers together you get the next one.
The Fibonnacci sequence can be found almost anywhere including in nature. For example shells follow the Fibonacci sequence in how they are formed. Seeds are arranged in flowers to prevent overcrowding, this is easily seen in the sunflower and in pinecones. In the body the DNA strands are 34 by 21 angstroms. A finger is broken up into three different parts. From the tip of the finger to the first joint is two fingernails. The rest of the finger is five fingernail widths. Lastly, the palm is the length of 8 fingernails. In music, Mozart uses Fibonnacci numbers in how he composes his sonatas by how many measures he puts in each section of his music. In architcture, you can see Fibonnacci’s contributions in the Great Giza Pyramids. The Fibonacci sequence is also used in the pascal triangle. The sum of each diagonal row as well as the right sequence is a Fibonacci number.
Fibonnacci first showed his great discoveries in his first published book, Liber Abaci in 1202. It was here that the Fibonacci number’s were first discussed. It was based on ...

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...plifying the results, we obtain: . We then multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator. Giving us, . After distributing, Binet’s formula is obtained: .
Fibonacci sequence has had a lasting affect, with his exponential growth, explanation of nature, golden growth, and golden ratio. The goden ratio takes the ratio of the two successive numbers in Fibonacci’s series, dividing each by the number before it. If you plot a graph with the results of this, you will see that they seem to be tending to a limit, which we call the golden ratio or can be refered to by the greek letter phi. This number accounts for the spirals in the seedheads and the arrangement of leaves in many plants. So based on Fibonacci’s sequence, we have been able to explain natural phenominas, it lead to the understanding of phi, and it has lead to many other mathematical equations.

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