Fibonacci – Early Math Counts

Math at the Museum of Science and Industry

Early Math Counts — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 17:06:43 +0000

Did you know the Museum of Science and Industry has replaced the ancient “Petroleum” exhibit with a new exhibit called “Numbers in Nature”?

Last week, this article in the Chicago Tribune described the new math space and it sounds fabulous. The Mirror Maze terrifies me, but I might drive on down to Hyde Park to see the Voronoi Patterns and Fibonacci numbers.

Check it out.

Patterns in Leaves and Flower Petals

Early Math Counts — Thu, 30 May 2013 10:55:52 +0000

Many, many months ago, I wrote an Afternoon Snack (re)introducing Fibonacci to the Early Math Counts readers. Since we are looking at flowers as a theme for teaching mathematical concepts, I thought we could revisit the idea that there are patterns that occur in nature if we simply look for them.

Fibonacci (re)discovered that the patterns we see in nature are based on a fairly simple mathematical sequence.

Look at this number sequence.

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55,

Take the first two numbers and add them together…

0 + 1 = 1

Add that result to the next number…

1 + 1 = 2

Take that result and add it to the next number….

2 + 3 = 5

And, again…

5 + 8 = 13

and so on….

The flower pictured above has petals that appear in a pattern that is based on the Fibonacci sequence.

You can have children explore different aspects of leave patterns and flower petal patterns when you bring in a variety of plants into the classroom. In no way do I think children will see the sophisticated patterns in the flower above, but they may notice if leaves are symmetrical, or asymmetrical.

Large sunflower heads, complete with their sunflower seeds still intact are great to bring into the classroom. You can have children look at the patterns that are created by the seeds and the petals. Later, using tweezers, children can pull out the seeds to take a closer look at them under a microscope.

Patterns are Everywhere

Early Math Counts — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:00:19 +0000

Patterns emerge everywhere in nature. Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci, discovered (or rediscovered depending on whose history you are studying) that there is a natural sequence that occurs in the organic world: we just have to look for it. This sequence is made up of the series:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,36, 57, 90, etc. Can you see the pattern?

The Fibonacci sequence is formulated by adding the first two numbers and then each subsequent number to the preceding number (0+1=1, 1+1=2, 2+1=3, and so on).

Take a look at these patterns from the natural world and you can see that they form the Fibonacci sequence.