MATHEMATICS IN OUR

WORLD
THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE, SPIRALS AND THE GOLDEN MEAN

10/10/2022

Prepared by: Ms. Jennifer G. Sasuman 1

NATURE BY NUMBERS

2
The Rabbit Problem

3
 THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 …
0 + 1 = 1
0 1 + 1 = 2
0 1 1 + 2 = 3
0 1 1 2 + 3 = 5
0 1 1 2 3 + 5 = 8
0 1 1 2 3 5 + 8 = 13
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 + 13 = 21
4
THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
(Spiral)

13

21

3 2
1 1
8
5
5
THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
(Spiral)

6
NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

Plants can grow new cells in spirals, such as the

pattern of seeds in this beautiful sunflower.

The spiral happens naturally because each new

cell is formed after a turn.

"New cell, then turn,

then another cell, then turn, ..."
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

We start from a simple square to get to the golden rectangle to obtain the golden ratio and use a classic
method that requires only a ruler and drawing compass.

√𝟓
1 1 𝟐 1

1 1/2 1/2

h2 = 12 + (1/2)2
h2 = 1 + (1/4)
h= √
5
h2 = 5/4 = 2
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

We continue…

√𝟓 √𝟓
𝟐 1 𝟐

1/2 𝟏 √𝟓 𝟏+ √ 𝟓
𝟐 𝟐 𝟐
¿𝟏.𝟔𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟑𝟑𝟗𝟗 …
“Phi” or
the Golden Ratio
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

If we divide each value in the Fibonacci Series by the previous, the result tends to Phi. The higher the value,
the greater the approximation (consider that Phi, like any irrational number, has infinite decimals).

𝟏 𝟖 𝟓𝟓
=𝟏 =𝟏 .𝟔 =𝟏 . 𝟔𝟏𝟕𝟔𝟒𝟕 05 882
𝟏 𝟓 𝟑𝟒

𝟐 𝟏𝟑 𝟓𝟗
=𝟐 =𝟏 .𝟔𝟐𝟓 =𝟏 .𝟔𝟏𝟖𝟏𝟖𝟏𝟖𝟏𝟖𝟏𝟖
𝟏 𝟖 𝟓𝟓

𝟐𝟏
𝟑
=𝟏 .𝟓 𝟏𝟑
=𝟏 .𝟔𝟏𝟓𝟑𝟖𝟒𝟔𝟏𝟓𝟑𝟖 ¿ 𝟏 .𝟔𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟑𝟑𝟗𝟗 …
𝟐

𝟓 𝟑𝟒 Note: Different from

=𝟏 .𝟔𝟔𝟔𝟔𝟔𝟔𝟔𝟔 =𝟏 . 𝟔𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟒𝟕𝟔𝟏𝟗 05
𝟑 𝟐𝟏 ¿𝟑.𝟏𝟒𝟏𝟓𝟗𝟐𝟔𝟓𝟑𝟓 …
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

Golden Ratio or Divine Proportion: the ratio of

the sum of the quantities (a+b) to the larger
quantity (a) is equal to the ratio of the larger
quantity (a) to the smaller one (b).

𝑎 𝑎+𝑏
= =𝜑 ( 𝑝h ⅈ )=1 ⋅ 61803399 …
𝑏 𝑎
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

𝑎 𝒂 𝒙 𝟑 60 − 𝜶
=𝜑 ( 𝑝h ⅈ )=1 ⋅ 61803399 … =𝝋 =𝝋 =𝝋
𝑏 𝒃 𝜶 𝜶
𝛼+ 𝑥=360 0 𝑥=3600 −𝛼 𝟑 60 𝟑𝟔𝟎
−𝟏=𝝋 =𝝋 +𝟏
𝜶 𝜶
𝑎=𝑥 (x is subtended angle of arc a)
𝑏=𝛼 (is subtended angle of arc b) 𝛼=137.507764 0 … 137.5 0
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

• We add a first red seed.

• Turn 137.5º
• Add a second green color seed and make the previous traveling to the center.
• Turn other 137.5º
• Add a third ocher seed and make the previous traveling to the center, to stay side by
side with the first one.
• Turn other 137.5º…
 NATURE, THE GOLDEN RATIO,
AND FIBONACCI

This leads to the characteristic structure in which

all seeds are arranged into a sunflower, which is as
compact as possible. We have always said: nature
is wise :-)