Have you ever noticed how many things in the natural world have spiral patterns in them? It’s the Fibonacci sequence. This short video provides a short illustration of the incidental math behind the beauty of pinecones, seashells, sunflowers, and more.
If you notice patterns and relationships in the natural world, see what phenology is all about. You might just be a phenologist already.
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The Beauty of Numbers
If you’re lucky, during your school years, math will be presented in such a way that you fall in love with it. The logic. The beauty. The order.
The Fibonacci sequence is a wonderful example.
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence, called the Fibonacci sequence, and characterized by the fact that every number after the first two is the sum of the two preceding ones:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…
When these numbers are charted in order on graph paper, working from the center outwards, they form a spiral. This same spiral formation appears in all sorts of plants, like pinecones, sunflowers, succulents, as well as in creatures including the shells of snails.
You’ll see what I mean when you watch this video (it’s fabulous).
Very cool.
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
Read More
Fibonacci number | Wikipedia
Fibonacci spiral and golden ratio | Math is Fun
Marlene Stephenson says
This is very interesting,i will be checking this out.Thanks.
Sir Kevin Parr, Baronet . says
Maths I hated at school working out logs and fuel intake of space travel. History and law was my big thing. I can work in simple sums in head but always write down all accounting for household and vast garden needs. Yes nature grants us many shapes .I have one amazing plant that swirls in summer into spikes of flower. Soft green fingers in Autumn and stays that way until Spring when it seems more like a dish of pop corn. No one knows what it is as it came hidden in a bought pot of Iris. I planted it to see what it did.Winter here is really hard but 40cel below and it thrives. About 5 centimeter high 15 across. Any ideas anyone? Now 4 years old and stands out for all to comment on it.Looked through many gardening books and nothing.