You are on page 1of 12

NATIONALUNIVERSITY

FibonacciNumber
MunjalPatel
January30,2010

FibonaccinumbersaresequenceofnumbersdevelopedinancientIndiaandlaterintroducedto
thewesternEuropeanmathematiciansbyLeonardoofPisaalsoknownasFibonacciin1202.
ThispaperservesasanintroductiontotheFibonaccinumbers,theirproperties,applications
andrelationtothemothernature.

LeonardoPisanoBogollo,(c.1170c.1250)knownasLeonardoofPisa,orsimply

FibonacciwasanItalianmathematician(Anderson,Frazier,&Popendorf,1999).Heis
consideredasthemosttalentedmathematicianofthemiddleages(Eves,1990).Fibonacciwas
firstintroducedtothenumbersystemwecurrentlyusewithsymbolsfrom0to9alongwiththe
FibonaccisequencebyIndianmerchantswhenhewasinnorthernAfrica(Anderson,Frazier,&
Popendorf,1999).HethenintroducedtheFibonaccisequenceandthenumbersystemwe
currentlyusetothewesternEuropeInhisbookLiberAbaciin1202(Singh,Acharya
Hemachandraandthe(socalled)FibonacciNumbers,1986)(Singh,TheSocalledFibonacci
numbersinancientandmedievalIndia,1985).

FibonaccisequencewaswellknowninIndiaandwasappliedtothemetricalsciences

(prosody).Pingala(200BC),Virahanka(6thcenturyAD),Gopla(c.1135AD),andHemachandra
(c.1150AD)aregivencreditsforthedevelopmentofthissequence(Goonatilake,1999).In
Sanskritprosody,longsyllableshavedurationof2andshortsyllableshavedurationof1.For
thisreason,itispossibletoformapatternofduration byaddingashortsyllabletothe
patternofduration

1oralongsyllabletothepatternofduration

2.Sanskritprosodists

provedthatthenumberofpatternsofduration isthesameasthesumoftheprevioustwo
numbersinthesequence.ItisbelievedthatthisiswherethemotivationfortheFibonacci
sequencecamefrom.Later,algorithmsforfinding

patternofduration weredeveloped

andthehigherorderFibonaccinumberswerediscovered.Thisworkhasbeenreviewedby
DonaldKnuthinTheArtofComputerProgramming(Knuth,TheArtofComputerProgramming,
2006)(Hall,2007).

Fibonaccinumbers

Page2

InordertostudyFibonaccinumbers,Fibonacciinvestigatedaproblemaboutgrowth

rateofrabbitpopulationinabiologicallyunrealisticsituation.ThepuzzleFibonacciposedwas:
assumethatanewlybornpairofrabbit,amaleandafemaleistobemateattheageofone
monthtoproduceanotherpairofrabbitwithamaleandafemaleonthesecondmonth.
Assumethatrabbitsneverdieandthesamecyclerepeatseverymonthsothatallpairsgive
birthtoanewpaireverymonthandanewlybornpaircanstartmatingfromthesecondmonth.
Howmanypairsofrabbitwilltherebeattheendoftheyear?Thesolutionoftheproblem
lookslikethefollowing:

Attheendofthefirstmonth,theymate,butthereisstilloneonly1pair.

Attheendofthesecondmonththefemaleproducesanewpairmaking2pairsofrabbits.

Attheendofthethirdmonth,theoriginalfemaleproducesasecondpair,making3pairs.

Attheendofthefourthmonth,theoriginalfemalehasproducedanothernewpair,the
femaleborntwomonthsagoproducesherfirstpairaswell,making5pairs.

Ifthiscyclecontinues,attheendofnmonth,numberofpairswillbethesumofnumberof
pairsinthemonth

2and

1.Thisissameasthe

Fibonaccinumber(Knott,Fibonacci

NumbersandNature,2008).

TheFibonaccinumbersarerepresentedbythenumbersinthefollowingsequence.By

definition,thefirsttwonumbersintheFibonacciseriesare0and1,andtherestarethesumof
theprevioustwonumbers.
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,

Fibonaccinumbers

Page3

Thefirst18Fibonaccinumbersdenotedby for

0,1,2, ,17arethefollowing(Knott,The

Fibonaccinumbers,2005):

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13

21

34

55

89 144 233 377 610 987 1597

TheFibonaccisequence canberepresentedbyarecurrencerelation
whereseeds

0and

1.Thesamesequencecanalsobeextendedtonegativeindex .

Thesequencewithnegativeindex , 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, canbesatisfiedby
1

OneoftheinterestingpropertiesofFibonaccinumbersisthateverythirdnumberinthe

sequenceisevenandevery

elementofthesequenceisalwaysamultipleof .forthis

reason,Fibonaccisequencesatisfiesastrongerdivisibilitypropertydescribedby(Su)
(Ribenboim,2000)(Renault,1996):
gcd

Thisunremarkablerecursivesequencehasyetanotherinterestingpattern.Thesidesof

thesquaresinthefigure1correspondtothenumbersintheFibonaccisequenceandsquares
arearrangedintheoutwardlyspiralingpattern.Eachrectangleintheimagehasroughlythe
sameshapeandratiofortheirlengthandwidth.Itisalsoveryinterestingtonotethatasthe
sequenceofrectanglesdevelopsoutwards,theratiooflengthtowidthoneverystepisthe

Fibonaccinumbers

Page4

ratiooftwosuccessiveterms(PlatonicRealms).TheratiosoftheseconsecutiveFibonacci
numbersformanothersequence:
1 2 3 5 8 13 21
, , , , , , ,
1 1 2 3 5 8 13
In1753,aScottishmathematicianRobertSimsonprovedthattheratiosofsuccessiveFibonacci
numbers

convergestoarealnumberknownasthegoldenratio( )as approachesto

infinity(Wells,1987).
1

lim

,where isthegoldenratio.

1.6180339887 (Sloane)

Figure1Atilingwithsquareswhosesidesaresuccessive
Fibonaccinumbersinlength

Fibonaccinumbers

Figure2Approximateandtruegoldenspirals.Thegreen
spiralismadefromquartercirclestangenttotheinteriorof
eachsquare,whiletheredspiralisaGoldenSpiral,aspecial
typeoflogarithmicspiral.Overlappingportionsappear
yellow.Thelengthofthesideofonesquaredividedbythat
ofthenextsmallersquareisthegoldenratio.

Page5

Because|1

| 5

12forall

0,theclosestinteger

to

5canbeobtained

bytheroundingasfollowing:

0(Tattersall,2005)

ItispossibletotestanynumberwhetheritbelongstotheFibonacciseriesofnot.Aswe

know,thattheclosestintegerto

is

5,themoststraightforwardandbruteforcetest

wouldbethefollowingidentitywithisvalidifandonlyif isaFibonaccinumber(Posamentier
&Lehmann,2007).

log

Alternatively,ifandonlyifeither5

4or5

1
2

4isaperfectsquare,where isapositive

integer,than isalsoaFibonaccinumber(Posamentier&Lehmann,2007).Itispossibleto
conductamoresophisticatedtestbyconsideringthefactthattheconvergentofthecontinued
fractionrepresentationof areratiosofsuccessiveFibonaccinumbers.Thefollowing
inequalityistrueifandonlyif

( and arecoprime)and and aresuccessiveFibonacci

numbers(Posamentier&Lehmann,2007).
1

Fromthis,itispossibletoderivethat isaFibonaccinumberifandonlyiftheinterval
,

containsapositiveinteger(Mbius,1998).

Fibonaccinumbers

Page6

TherearemanyotherpropertiesandidentitiesrelatedtoFibonaccinumbersandpeople

havewrittenbooksaboutit.Duetothenatureofthispaperandalimitedscope,itishardto
covereverythingthereisaboutfortheFibonaccinumbers.Forthisreason,inthisfinalsection
ofthepaper,IwillintroducesomerealworldapplicationsrelatedtoFibonaccinumbersand
theirrelationshipwithnature.

FibonaccinumbersareimportanttoperformaruntimeanalysisofEuclidsalgorithmto

findthegreatestcommondivisor(GCD)oftwointegers.ApairoftwoconsecutiveFibonacci
numbersmakesaworstcaseinputforthisalgorithm(Knuth,ArtofComputerProgramming,
Volume1:FundamentalAlgorithms,1997).Fibonaccinumbershavetheirapplicationinthe
polyphaseversionoftheMergeSortalgorithm.Thisalgorithmdividesanunsortedlistintwo
listssuchthatthelengthoflistscorrespondstotwosequentialFibonaccinumbers.Theratioof
thelengthsofthelistsisanapproximatelysameas (Knuth,ArtofComputerProgramming,
Volume1:FundamentalAlgorithms,1997).Fibonaccinumbersareessentialintheanalysisof
theFibonacciheapdatastructures.AnetworktopologyforparallelcomputingusesaFibonacci
cubewhichisanundirectedgraphwithFibonaccinumberofnodes.TheFibonaccisearch
techniqueisaonedimensionaloptimizationmethodandisdevelopedonthebasisofFibonacci
numbersandtheirproperties(Avriel&Wilde,1966).IFF8SVXaudiofileformatinAmiga
computersusesFibonaccisequencetocompandtheoriginalaudiowaveforoptionallossy
compression(AddisonWesley,1991).Theconversionfactorfrommilestokilometers
1.609344

.WhenFibonaccinumbersarereplacedbytheirsuccessors,thesumofthe

decompositionofdistanceinmilesintoasumofFibonaccinumbersisapproximatelysameas
kilometersum.Thiscanbeachievedbyshiftingaradix2numberregisteringoldenratiobase
Fibonaccinumbers

Page7

.ShiftingtheregisterdowntheFibonaccinumberresultsintotheconversionfromkilometers
tomiles(Hazewinkel,2002)(Knott,UsingtheFibonaccinumberstorepresentwholenumbers,
2009).

AcloseobservationofournaturerevelsthatFibonaccinumbersareoftenfoundintwo

consecutiveFibonaccinumbersinbiologicalsetting(Douady&Couder,1995),branchingin
trees,andarrangementofleavesonastem,andthefruitletsofapineapple(Jones&Wilson,
2006)forexample.Thefloweringofartichokeandarrangementsofapineconeisyetanother
example(Brousseau,1969).TheFibonaccinumbershavealsobeenobservedinthefamilytree
ofhoneybees(Thimbleby).H.Vogelin
1979proposedamodelforthepatternof
floretsfoundintheheadofasunflower
(Vogel,1979)asbelow:
2

Here, istheindexnumberofthefloret

Figure3Sunflowerheaddisplayingfloretsinspiralsof34and55
aroundtheoutside

while isaconstantscalingfactor.
Therefore,floretslieonFermat'sspiral.Thedivergenceangleisapproximately137.51 whichis
knownasthegoldenanglebecausethisangledividesacircleinthegoldenratio.Thereason
sunflowerfloretspacksoefficientlyissincethisratioisanirrationalnumber;noflorethasa
neighboratexactlythesameanglefromthecenter.Therationalapproximationstothegolden
ratioareofform
arethoseat
Fibonaccinumbers

1 .Forthisreason,thenearestpossibleneighboroffloretnumber
forsomeindex whichisdependentof ,thedistancefromthecenter.
Page8

Itisoftenobservedthatsunflowersandsimilarnaturalarrangementshave55spiralsinone
directionwhile89intheother(Prusinkiewicz&Lindenmayer,1991).

OnceagainIwouldliketostressthatthispapershallonlybeconsideredasthe

introductiontotheFibonaccinumbersandthereisstillmuchmoretoFibonaccinumbersnot
coveredinthispaper.

Fibonaccinumbers

Page9

References
AddisonWesley.(1991).AmigaROMKernelReferenceManual.AddisonWesley.
Anderson,M.,Frazier,J.,&Popendorf,K.(1999).LeonardoFibonacci(ca.1175ca.1240).Retrieved
January28,2010,fromThinkQuest:http://library.thinkquest.org/27890/biographies1.html
Avriel,M.,&Wilde,D.J.(1966).OptimalityoftheSymmetricFibonacciSearchTechnique.Fibonacci
Quarterly,(pp.265269).
Brousseau,A.(1969).FibonacciStatisticsinConifers.FibonacciQuarterly,525532.
Douady,S.,&Couder,Y.(1995).PhyllotaxisasaDynamicalSelfOrganizingProcess.Journalof
TheoreticalBiology,255274.
Eves,H.(1990).AnIntroductiontotheHistoryofMathematics(6thed.).BrooksCole.
Goonatilake,S.(1999).TowardaGlobalScience:MiningCivilizationalKnowledge(Race,Gender,and
Science).IndianaUniversityPress.
Hall,R.W.(2007,October31).MathforPoetsandDrummers.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromSaint
JosephsUniversity:http://www.sju.edu/~rhall/mathforpoets.pdf
Hazewinkel,M.(Ed.).(2002).EncyclopaediaofMathematics.
Jones,J.,&Wilson,W.(2006).AnIncompleteEducation,3,684ThingsYouShouldHaveLearnedBut
probablyDidn't.BallantineBooks.
Knott,R.(2008,December16).FibonacciNumbersandNature.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromThe
UniversityofSurrey:http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted
sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#Rabbits

Fibonaccinumbers

Page10

Knott,R.(2005,August19).TheFibonaccinumbers.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromTheUniversityof
Surrey:http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hostedsites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibtable.html
Knott,R.(2009,October23).UsingtheFibonaccinumberstorepresentwholenumbers.Retrieved
January30,2010,fromTheUniversityofSurrey:http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted
sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibrep.html#kilos
Knuth,D.E.(1997).ArtofComputerProgramming,Volume1:FundamentalAlgorithms(3rded.).
AddisonWesleyProfessional.
Knuth,D.E.(2006).TheArtofComputerProgramming.AddisonWesleyProfessional.
Mbius,M.(1998).WieerkenntmaneineFibonacciZahl?
PlatonicRealms.(n.d.).TheFibonacciSequence.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromPlatonicRealms:
http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/fibonac/index.asp
Posamentier,A.S.,&Lehmann,I.(2007).TheFabulousFibonacciNumbers.PrometheusBooks.
Prusinkiewicz,P.,&Lindenmayer,A.(1991).TheAlgorithmicBeautyofPlants(1sted.).Springer.
Renault,M.(1996).PropertiesoftheFibonacciSequence.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromTemple
University:http://www.math.temple.edu/~renault/fibonacci/thesis.html
Ribenboim,P.(2000).MyNumbers,MyFriends.SpringerVerlag.
Singh,P.(1986).AcharyaHemachandraandthe(socalled)FibonacciNumbers(Math.Ed.Siwaned.,Vol.
20).
Singh,P.(1985).TheSocalledFibonaccinumbersinancientandmedievalIndia(Vol.12).Historia
Mathematica.
Fibonaccinumbers

Page11

Sloane,N.J.A001622:Decimalexpansionofgoldenratiophi(ortau)=(1+sqrt5)/2.AT&TLabs.
Su,F.E.(n.d.).FibonacciGCD's,please.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromMuddMathFunFacts:
http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/20004.5.shtml
Tattersall,J.J.(2005).ElementaryNumberTheoryinNineChapters(2nded.).CambridgeUniversity
Press.
Thimbleby,H.(n.d.).BforThedaVinciCode.RetrievedJanuary30,2010,fromSwanseaUniversity:
http://www.cs.swansea.ac.uk/~csharold/dvc/dvc.pdf
Vogel,H.(1979).Abetterwaytoconstructthesunflowerhead.MathematicalBiosciences,179189.
Wells,D.(1987).ThePenguinDictionaryofCuriousandInterestingNumbers.Middlesex,England:
PenguinBooks.

Fibonaccinumbers

Page12

You might also like