MSS: This should get the kids back into mathematics

Saturday, 13 March 2010

This should get the kids back into mathematics

Seen over at imgur and also at fridley.

Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following order:

$0,\;1,\;1,\;2,\;3,\;5,\;8,\;13,\;21,\;34,\;55,\;89,\;144,\; \ldots.$

After the 0 and 1, each number is the sum of the previous two. A Fibonacci spiral can be created by drawing arcs connecting the opposite corners of squares in a Fibonacci tiling. In the picture above, the "squares" have side-lengths 1, 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Edit: Just in case it wasn't obvious, this post is more humour than maths. The curve would actually be a parabola (I think). If you look hard enough in nature, you can find all sorts of curves - see Fibonacci Flim-Flam for an overview of this idea.