Fibonacci

Sequence
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 ...
So term number 6 is called x6 (which equals 8).
Example: the 8th term is
• the 7th term plus the 6th term: F F F F F F F F F F
F F F F F F F F F F
• x8 = x7 + x6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1

0
1

1
1

2
1

3
1

4
1

5
1

6
1

7
1

8
1

• fibonacci rule x_8 = x_7 + x_6 12369

124
12358 551
• So we can write the rule: 0112358
31459
43718
43707
988

The Rule is xn = xn−1 + xn−2 741

• 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 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,
And here is a surprise. When we take any two successive (one after the 19392, 31376, ...):
other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio "φ"
A B B/A
which is approximately 1.618034...
In fact, the bigger the pair of Fibonacci Numbers, the closer the 19
16
0.0833
approximation. Let us try a few: 2 3333...
20
16 13
8
A B B/A
20 22 1.0769
2 3 1.5 8 4 2308...
1.6666 22 43 1.9285
3 5 66666.. 4 2 7143...
.
... ... ...
5 8 1.6
11
74 1.6177
1 98
8 1.625 08 1058...
3 4

... ... ... 11 19

1.6181
98 39
5754...
2 1.6180 4 2
14
3 55556..
4 ... ... ...
3 .
3 1.6180
23
7 25751..
3
7 . 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:

The answer comes out as a whole number, exactly equal to the addition of the previous two terms.
Example: x6
x6 = (1.618034...)6 − (1−1.618034...)6√5

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: What is the next in the sequence after 8 ?
It will be 8 times φ:
8φ = 8 × 1.618034...
= 12.94427...
= 13 (rounded)
About Fibonacci The Man

• 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.