Fibonacci’s Sequence
June 3rd, 2008 -- Posted in What | No Comments »
Now, on to what Fibonacci is widely known for around the world: The Fibonacci Sequence. This amazing sequence was discovered through a mathematics competition in 1225. These mathematical tournaments were common practice in the 13th century. The famous problem that arose in this particular competition was the rabbit problem, which will be discussed in further detail later.
Originally this was a problem that he investigated (in the year 1202) to see how fast rabbits would breed in ideal circumstances. This was assuming that none of the rabbits died, and that each pair of rabbits did not give birth to more than one pair of rabbits each month.
The picture below shows a pair of rabbits that are born and don’t mature until after the first month. After the first month they give birth to a pair of rabbits which don’t mature until after the first month. It repeats this pattern continuously. If you look at the numbers at the right in the chart, it shows the number of rabbits that are alive at the time. These numbers are the Fibonacci Sequence. This is how he discovered the sequence. continue reading »