Is it possible to measure the perfection of beauty in nature? Is perfection a subjective experience of individuals, or is there still some way to determine “universal beauty”? What does mathematics have to do with it?
Answers to these unusual questions are given by the Fibonacci sequence, one of the most famous mathematical formulas, which many mathematicians refer to as the “measure of perfection”!
The Fibonacci sequence is a pattern that repeats countless times in nature, and has also found its way into art and culture.
Interesting math: what is the Fibonacci sequence?
The idea of the Fibonacci sequence came from the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, better known as Leonardo of Pisa. At the beginning of the 13th century AD, he wrote down a mathematical equation that, even today, after more than 800 years, best describes the Fibonacci sequence.
How did Fibonacci notice that sequence and what does it actually represent?
Rabbits + math = Fibonacci sequenceObserving rabbits, Leonardo of Pisa began to think about the speed of their reproduction. He set himself an interesting mathematical task: how many rabbits can be born from just one pair of male and female, during just one year?
Fibonacci imagined the growth of an idealized population of rabbits. He assumed the following: a pair of young rabbits – a male and a female – were released into the field. They become sexually mature the moment they turn one month old. Then they can mate and at the end of the next month they will have offspring: another pair of rabbits, again male and female. So, after two months, two pairs of rabbits will be born.
The Golden Ratio is a design concept based on the use of the Fibonacci sequence to create visually pleasing proportions in art, architecture and graphic design. The proportion, size and position of one element in relation to another creates a sense of harmony that appeals to our subconscious mind.
The golden ratio as a mathematical concept has been known since the time of the ancient Greeks. It is considered the ideal of perfection, the perfection of the ratio of dimensions that is almost impossible to reach, just as it is impossible to reach the last digit in the decimal notation of the number phi.
The Fibonacci sequence is hidden everywhere in nature around us!
One of the most famous examples of the Fibonacci sequence in nature is the sunflower. Mathematicians simply adore sunflowers. The flower is large enough that it is very easy to see the mathematical pattern hidden in plain sight by simply counting the sunflower seeds. You can try this yourself. For easier counting, do it clockwise.
Cones are another interesting example of the Fibonacci sequence in nature. Collect the pine cones, grab the crayons for easy marking and start counting. This can be an interesting game for you and your youngest, where you will introduce them to the interesting world of numbers through the game, and along the way you can tell them the story of a great Italian mathematician from the 13th century.
The presence of this specific mathematical sequence in the pineapple fruit was noticed by researchers in the first half of the 20th century. That this is not a coincidence was confirmed in another scientific study conducted in 1970, when it was noted that most medium and large fruits have 8-13-21 rows in the hexagonal structure of the pineapple peel, and that the smaller ones have 5-8- 13 (which are actually all the numbers of the Fibonacci sequence).
Similar to pineapples and strawberries, this sequence is relatively easy to spot. You need to be very careful and focused when you start counting the seeds that are visible on the surface of the strawberry fruit. Always start counting from the bottom of the strawberry and follow the spiral series of seeds until you reach the top. By counting, you will notice that the first, last, and all in between numbers of strawberry seeds are actually part of the Fibonacci sequence.
The human body is made in the proportions of divine proportion. Look in the mirror and you will see the Fibonacci sequence. Your body consists of the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5. You have one nose, two eyes, three segments of each limb and five fingers on each hand. If we measure a person’s length from the top of the head to the floor, then divide by the length from the navel to the floor, we get 1.618034, which is the number that the Fibonacci sequence approaches
We have left the most famous example for last, which is certainly the nautilus shell. Nautilus belongs to a group of mollusks called cephalopods. For many scientists and artists of the world, the Nautilus shell is an example of one of the most perfect forms in nature. This shell has a spiral shape that can be described geometrically using the numerical values of the Fibonacci sequence. Also, if we were to calculate the ratio of each spiral ratio to the next, we would get the number phi.
