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.
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 ♛