Mathematics

Mr. Fady Nagy

Summative task
12.12.2022

FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
APPLICATIONS IN REAL
LIFE
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By Matthew Fedorov

WHAT IS FIBONACCI SEQUENCE?

Fibonacci sequence – is a sequence in which each number is the sum of two preceding ones.
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… –Fibonacci sequence

The Fibonacci sequence can be represented graphically as a spiral with squares corresponding to
the widths of the numbers. The spiral is created by the squares fitting together. In this case,
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adding 5 and 8 results in 13, adding 8 and 13 results in 21, and so on.

Fibonacci sequence is widely used in real life. Now, we are going to look at these real-life
examples of Fibonacci sequences closely.

Golden ratio

The Fibonacci sequence is often associated with the golden ratio, a proportion (roughly 1: 1.6)
that occurs frequently throughout the natural world and is often used in many specters of
human life, like architecture and engineering.
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When we take any two successive (one after the other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very
close to the Golden Ratio:

Fibonacci sequence and nature

Fibonacci sequences appear in nature, for example in arrangement of leaves on a stem,

branching in trees, fruitlets of the pineapple, flowering of the artichoke and many others.
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Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer pointed out that the Fibonacci sequence is present in
nature, explaining the pentagonal form of some flowers. In 1830, K. F. Schimper and A. Braun
discovered that the parastichies of plants were frequently expressed as fractions involving
Fibonacci numbers.

The head of a yellow chamomile showing an arrangement (spiral) involving the Fibonacci sequence.

A model for the pattern of florets in the head of a sunflower was proposed by Helmut Vogel in
1979. This has the following form:

When n is the floret's index number and c is a constant scaling factor; as a result, the florets are
arranged along Fermat's spiral. The circle is divided in the golden ratio by the divergence angle,
which is roughly 137.51°. The florets pack tightly because no floret has a neighbor at precisely
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the same angle from the center due to the irrationality of this ratio. The closest neighbors of
floret number n are those at n F(j) for some index j, which depends on r, the distance from the
center, because the rational approximations to the golden ratio are of the type F(j):F(j + 1).

Sunflowers and related flowers frequently feature spirals of florets arranged in clockwise and
counterclockwise directions, measured by the outermost range of radii and using adjacent
Fibonacci numbers.

Illustration of Vogel's model for n = 1 ... 500

Fibonacci sequence and human chromosomes.

It has been noted that the Fibonacci sequence is likewise followed by the number of potential
ancestors on the human X chromosome inheritance line at a certain ancestral generation. An
individual who is male has two chromosomes: an X chromosome that he inherited from his
mother and a Y chromosome that he inherited from his father. The man counts as the "origin" of
his own X chromosome (F1 = 1), and his X chromosome came from a single parent during his
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parents' generation (F2 = 1). Two grandparents contributed to the male descendant's X
chromosome (F3 = 2) since the mother of the male inherited one X chromosome from her
mother (the son's maternal grandmother) and one from her father (the son's maternal
grandfather). Three great-grandparents contributed to the male descendant's X chromosome
(F4 = 3), as the maternal grandfather received his X chromosome from his mother and the
maternal grandmother received X chromosomes from both of her parents. Five
great-great-grandparents contributed to the X chromosome of the male descendent (F5 = 5),
and so on. So, as we can see the number of ancestors forms a Fibonacci sequence.

Fibonacci sequence and Pascal’s triangle.

In abstract mathematics Pascal’s triangle is a triangular array of the binomial coefficients,

which arises in combinatorics, algebra and probability theory. The Pascal’s triangle and the
Fibonacci sequence have a close relationship with each other. In the Pascal’s triangle the
Fibonacci sequence occurs in the sums of its “shallow” diagonals.
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This is the formula of this relationship:

We can visualize this relationship in the image below:

The Fibonacci numbers are the sums of the "shallow" diagonals (shown in red) of Pascal's triangle.

CONCLUSION
During my inquiry I explored many applications of the Fibonacci sequence in our life. The
applications that I mentioned in detail are only a few of many useful ways to use the Fibonacci
sequence. The Fibonacci sequence can be applied in finance, computer science, optics,
engineering and many other fields. So, we can profoundly say that the discovery of the
Fibonacci sequence helped to make the life of the people much easier and made many other
important scientific discoveries possible.
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Works Cited

The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Fibonacci sequence | Definition, Formula, Numbers, Ratio, &

Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 October 2022,

https://www.britannica.com/science/Fibonacci-number. Accessed 12 December 2022.

“14 Interesting Examples of the Golden Ratio in Nature.” Mathnasium, 20 February 2013,

https://www.mathnasium.com/blog/14-interesting-examples-of-the-golden-ratio-in-na

ture. Accessed 12 December 2022.

Kuepper, Justin. “Fibonacci and the Golden Ratio - Technical Analysis.” Investopedia, 07 July

2022, https://www.investopedia.com/articles/technical/04/033104.asp. Accessed 12

December 2022.

Lamb, Robert, and Jesslyn Shields. “How are Fibonacci numbers expressed in nature? |

HowStuffWorks.” Science | HowStuffWorks,

https://science.howstuffworks.com/math-concepts/fibonacci-nature.htm. Accessed 12

December 2022.

“Nature, The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Numbers.” Math is Fun,

https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/nature-golden-ratio-fibonacci.html. Accessed 12

December 2022.

“Programming the Fibonacci Sequence: Computer Science Basics.” TurboFuture, 16 January

2021,https://turbofuture.com/computers/Programming-the-Fibonacci-Sequence-Compu

ter-Science-Basics. Accessed 12 December 2022.

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