Nature by Numbers

My Senior year in High School I wanted an easy load so I took 4 Math classes, 2 Music classes, and the 1 (required) English class. Amoung those classes was a different sort of Math class which was generically named 'Discrete Math'. In it we learned about all sorts of math that is not covered in the regular math curriculum, things like mapping theory, chaos and fractals, and the golden ratio. It was in this class I found my love of the number Phi, commonly referred to as the Golden Ratio.

I know the people who read my blog are mostly friends who do not share my love of mathematics, so to you I say don't worry, I'll keep this very non-technical.

The Fibonacci Sequence is generated by adding the 2 previous terms together. So if we start with 0 and then 1, the next term is found by adding 0 + 1 = 1. Then do it again, 1 + 1 = 2, and so on. The sequence is then

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, ...

Why is this important? If you divide any of these numbers by it's previous term it approximates the Golden Ratio. The higher the numbers in this sequence then the more accurate the ratio will be.

Here is the best part, at least for me it is, this number is very special as it appears all throughout nature. Today I stumbled across a video very well done that demonstrates this in a beautiful way. Please enjoy it and let me know what you think.

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Math was not invented to torture high school students as so many of my own students believe. Instead it is a discovery of one of the most beautiful creations of God.