Drexel dragonThe Math ForumDonate to the Math Forum

The Math Forum Internet Mathematics Library

Fibonacci at Random

_____________________________________
Library Home || Full Table of Contents || Suggest a Link || Library Help
_____________________________________

Visit this site: http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/6_12_99/bob1.htm
Author:Ivars Peterson - Science News Online
Description: In a book completed in 1202, mathematician Leonardo of Pisa (also known as Fibonacci) posed the following problem: How many pairs of rabbits will be produced in a year, beginning with a single pair, if every month each pair bears a new pair that becomes productive from the second month on? The total number of pairs, month by month, forms the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, and so on. Each new term is the sum of the previous two terms. This set of numbers is now called the Fibonacci sequence. Fibonacci numbers come up often in nature, from the number of petals in various flowers to the number of scales along a spiral row in a pine cone. They also arise in computer science, especially in sorting or organizing data... computer scientist Divakar Viswanath has discovered a new mathematical constant: the number 1.13198824....
Levels: High School (9-12), College
Languages: English
Resource Types: Articles
Math Topics: Number Sense/About Numbers, Golden Ratio/Fibonacci, Number Theory, Fibonacci Sequence

[Privacy Policy] [Terms of Use]

_____________________________________
Home || The Math Library || Quick Reference || Search || Help
_____________________________________

© 1994-2012 Drexel University. All rights reserved.
http://mathforum.org/
 The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Goodwin College of Professional Studies.The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Goodwin College of Professional Studies.