Flower petals and the Fibonacci Sequence?

The number of flower petals is often a number from the Fibonacci Sequence

Maybe it does not look like it, but the nature and mathematics are closely linked. For example, the occurrence of number from the Fibonacci Sequence is so frequent that we cannot regard it as a coincidence. But what does this sequence means?

Maybe it does not look like it, but the nature and mathematics are closely linked. For example, the occurrence of number from the Fibonacci Sequence is so frequent that we cannot regard it as a coincidence. But what does this sequence means?

“We know the Fibonacci Sequence thanks to the following exercise from the book written by Fibonacci: Let us imagine a pair of rabbits (female and male). Let’s assume that they cannot reproduce in the first month of life and reach maturity as they are two months old. After the second month, the female gives a birth to a new pair. Each pair breeds in the same way. What will be the number of rabbit pairs at the beginning of each subsequent month?” (The joy of mathematics by Theoni Pappas).

We can find pairs in a line with sequentiality. Each member of the sequence is the sum of the previous two members: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, etc. In the nature, these numbers occur in the number of flower petals: 3 – lily, iris, 5 – columbine, Delphinium, gilliflower, 8 – buttercup, Delphinium, 13 – garden mum, 21 – Astra, 34, 55, 89 – daisy. However, they also occur in the alignment of leaves, shoots and twigs, in the number of clockwise and counter-clockwise spirals on a pine cone and in the flower of sunflower, as well as in the number of spirals forming a hexagonal pineapple bark.

The study of this issue is possible in the field:

The Fibonacci Sequence occurs not only in the nature, but also in other mathematical phenomena.

Author: Michaela Zatrochová, P-mat, NPO

Photo: http://fotky-foto.sk/

Published by: ZČ

Translated: Andrej Mišech