10/10/2020 Fibonacci Sequence

Fibonacci Sequence
The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ...

The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it:

the 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1),

the 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+2),
the 5 is (2+3),
and so on!

Example: the next number in the sequence above is 21+34 = 55

It is that simple!

Here is a longer list:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181, 6765, 10946,
17711, 28657, 46368, 75025, 121393, 196418, 317811, ...

Can you figure out the next few numbers?

Makes A Spiral
When we make squares with those widths, we get a nice spiral:

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8
13
34
1

5
2 1

21
Do you see how the squares fit neatly together?
For example 5 and 8 make 13, 8 and 13 make 21, and so on.

This spiral is found in nature!

See: Nature, The Golden Ratio, and Fibonacci

The Rule
The Fibonacci Sequence can be written as a "Rule" (see Sequences and Series ).

First, the terms are numbered from 0 onwards like this:

n= 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ...

xn = 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 ...

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So term number 6 is called x6 (which equals 8).

Example: the 8th term is

the 7th term plus the 6th term:

x8 = x7 + x6

So we can write the rule:

The Rule is xn = xn−1 + xn−2

where:

xn is term number "n"

xn−1 is the previous term (n−1)

xn−2 is the term before that (n−2)

Example: term 9 is calculated like this:

x9 = x9−1 + x9−2

= x8 + x7

= 21 + 13

= 34

Golden Ratio
φ= 1.618... And here is a surprise. When we take any two successive (one after
the other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden
Ratio "φ" which is approximately 1.618034...
1 Golden Rectangle 1
In fact, the bigger the pair of Fibonacci Numbers, the closer the
approximation. Let us try a few:
φ= 1.618... A B B/A
2 3 1.5

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3 5 1.666666666...
5 8 1.6
8 13 1.625
... ... ...
144 233 1.618055556...
233 377 1.618025751...
... ... ...

We don't have to start with 2 and 3, here I randomly chose 192 and 16 (and got the sequence
192, 16, 208, 224, 432, 656, 1088, 1744, 2832, 4576, 7408, 11984, 19392, 31376, ...):

A B B/A
192 16 0.08333333...
16 208 13
208 224 1.07692308...
224 432 1.92857143...
... ... ...
7408 11984 1.61771058...
11984 19392 1.61815754...
... ... ...

It takes longer to get good values, but it shows that not just the Fibonacci Sequence can do this!

Using The Golden Ratio to Calculate Fibonacci Numbers

And even more surprising is that we can calculate any Fibonacci Number using the Golden
Ratio:

φn − (1−φ)n
xn =
√5

The answer comes out as a whole number, exactly equal to the addition of the previous two
terms.

Example: x6

(1.618034...)6 − (1−1.618034...)6
x6 =
√5

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When I used a calculator on this (only entering the Golden Ratio to 6 decimal places) I got
the answer 8.00000033 , a more accurate calculation would be closer to 8.

Try n=12 and see what you get.

You can also calculate a Fibonacci Number by multiplying the previous Fibonacci Number by the
Golden Ratio and then rounding (works for numbers above 1):

Example: 8 × φ = 8 × 1.618034... = 12.94427... = 13 (rounded)

Some Interesting Things

Here is the Fibonacci sequence again:

n= 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ...

xn = 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 ...

There is an interesting pattern:

Look at the number x3 = 2. Every 3rd number is a multiple of 2 (2, 8, 34, 144,
610, ...)
Look at the number x4 = 3. Every 4th number is a multiple of 3 (3, 21, 144, ...)

Look at the number x5 = 5. Every 5th number is a multiple of 5 (5, 55, 610, ...)

And so on (every nth number is a multiple of xn).

1/89 = 0.011235955056179775...

Notice the first few digits (0,1,1,2,3,5) are the Fibonacci sequence?

In a way they all are, except multiple digit numbers (13, 21, etc) overlap, like this:

0.0
0.01
0.001
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0.0002
0.00003
0.000005
0.0000008
0.00000013
0.000000021
... etc ...

0.011235955056179775... = 1/89

Terms Below Zero

The sequence works below zero also, like this:

n= ... −6 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...

xn = ... −8 5 −3 2 −1 1 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 ...

(Prove to yourself that each number is found by adding up the two numbers before it!)

In fact the sequence below zero has the same numbers as the sequence above zero, except they
follow a +-+- ... pattern. It can be written like this:

x−n = (−1)n+1 xn

Which says that term "−n" is equal to (−1)n+1 times term "n", and the value (−1)n+1 neatly
makes the correct +1, −1, +1, −1, ... pattern.

History
Fibonacci was not the first to know about the sequence, it was known in India hundreds of years
before!

About Fibonacci The Man

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His real name was Leonardo Pisano Bogollo, and he lived between 1170 and
1250 in Italy.

"Fibonacci" was his nickname, which roughly means "Son of Bonacci".

As well as being famous for the Fibonacci Sequence, he helped spread

Hindu-Arabic Numerals (like our present numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9) through Europe in place of Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, etc). That
has saved us all a lot of trouble! Thank you Leonardo.

Fibonacci Day
Fibonacci Day is November 23rd, as it has the digits "1, 1, 2, 3" which is
part of the sequence. So next Nov 23 let everyone know!

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5

Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10

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