Fibonacci, Leonardo da Vinci, the Golden Ratio and the Nautilus Shell (The New Mathematics for the Millions Book 14)

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word Phenomena as being derived from the Greek word phainen which mean to show, be seen or appear. A Phenomenon is a fact or event that appears or is perceived by one of our senses, or by the mind.

In many aspects of mathematics and physics, Phenomena tend to be discovered and studied long before they are truly understood. Such as statement is perhaps nonsensical, in that a phenomena must, by its very nature, be first studied before it can be fully characterized or described.

So it is with the Fibonacci Rabbit Problem and the Fibonacci Sequence that so arises – a mathematical phenomenon that is still being studied some eight hundred years after the sequence was first proposed by Leonardo da Pisa. The aesthetics of the Fibonacci Sequence has intrigued artists and mathematician since the time of the other Leonardo – Leonardo da Vinci.

A certain mythology about the Fibonacci Sequence has also arisen – a mythology centred on the Golden Ratio – this needs to be dispelled, for somehow we try to find Fibonacci’s Sequence in phenomena that are best described in other ways, such as in the Nautilus and the Perfect Storm.

I don’t think the two Leonardo’s would mind this scepticism – for they were both open minded …and they knew a good thing when they saw it.