When you are spending time in the outdoors, one of the mathematical things you can look for is the connection in nature to the Fibonacci number sequence. Of course, one must know the sequence in order to recognize when it shows up in nature, and it is as follows:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…
Do you see the pattern? It begins, with 0 and 1, and after that each successive number is the sum of the two previous numbers. Thus the number after 34 is 55, derived by 21 + 34 = 55.
The sequence shows up in nature in a variety of ways. For many flowers, the number of petals that they have is a Fibonacci number. Looking at the bottom of pinecones, the number of spirals formed, whether left spirals or right spirals, is a Fibonacci number. This is true for pineapples and sunflowers as well. The number of seeds found in fruit is often a Fibonacci number. The next time you are eating an apple or orange, or squeezing lemons for lemonade, stop and count the seeds! Even when looking at how plants branch off a stalk or grow their leaves we can see the Fibonacci sequence.
Click here for one great site for delving into this further— there are many others out there, too!
Happy number hunting!
Mathematically yours,
Carollee
