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The Fibonacci Sequence Explained

The document discusses the Fibonacci sequence and its relationship to the golden ratio. It begins by introducing Fibonacci and defining the Fibonacci sequence as starting with 1, 1, and each subsequent term being the sum of the previous two. It then shows how the ratio of numbers in the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden ratio as the sequence progresses. This demonstrates the deep connection between the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio in mathematics and patterns observed in nature.

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209 views

The Fibonacci Sequence Explained

The document discusses the Fibonacci sequence and its relationship to the golden ratio. It begins by introducing Fibonacci and defining the Fibonacci sequence as starting with 1, 1, and each subsequent term being the sum of the previous two. It then shows how the ratio of numbers in the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden ratio as the sequence progresses. This demonstrates the deep connection between the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio in mathematics and patterns observed in nature.

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27189
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Fibonacci Sequence

Leonardo Pisano Bigollo Fibonacci (1170-1250) The Italian Mathematician introduced the decimal system and other new methods of arithmetic to Europe, and relayed the mathematics of the Hindus, Persians, and Arabs. Leonardo's writings cover a very broad range including new theorems of geometry, irrational numbers, theorems about Pythagorean triplets, and the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, .... which is now linked with the name.

Introduction

The famous sequence is defined by the first two terms

The next term in the sequence is obtained by adding the previous two terms.

In general, this recurrence can be written

We can fit the data points of the sequence to a function using Maple

50 40

an 30
20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 th term of sequence n 8 9 10

Figure 1: Data points of the Fibonacci sequence and its interpolating polynomial

The graph of the sequence grows in an exponential manner, and the first few terms are

But what is so special about this sequence anyways? There are many extraordinary properties of the sequence, and its patterns can be observed in nature. But in this case we will focus on one interesting phenomenon that relates to another: the beautiful Golden Ratio Consider a population of rabbits that starts out with one newborn pair. After one month there will still be one pair, but now they will be mature. The next month, there will be 2 pairs, the original pair and one newborn pair produced by the mature pair. If this pattern continues, the total population after each month is equal to the Fibonacci sequence 1,1,2,3,5,8,13....

Now what is the ratio of rabbits between successive months? In other words, how quickly is the total population growing? This can be written

Where

is the population at month k and p

is the population from the previous month

The first few terms are:

Let's plot these ratios for each month

2 Ratio

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Month 8 9 10

Figure 2: Ratio of successive populations and its interpolating polynomial. The ratio appears to converge to a specific value

This graph is indicating that after a while, the population increases steadily by a factor of about 1.6 How do we determine this exact value?Well, here is one method using the theory of dynamical systems and eigenvalues. If we group a particular population ratio into a vector, it would look like this

The next population ratio would be

These vectors are related by the following equation

Which we know is true for the Fibonacci sequence Therefore the population ratios can be represented by a linear dynamical system

This means the next population ratio

can be obtained by multiplying

by the matrix A

For example

So the question is: what is the population ratio when k gets very large (after a long long time)? The initial ratio is (at k = 2 months), so the next ratios are obtained as follows:

In general

Using this important equation, we can calculate the ratio vector for any value of k (k > 2 2 Z). For example, after month 44, how many rabbits are there and how many times more are there compared to the previous month?

(1)

Answer: there are times more than the previous month. Although this is just hypothetical, it gives an approximation to the special number that the Fibonacci ratios converge to. This number is called the Golden Ratio, and it can be calculated exactly by the following method. After multiplying the initial ratio vector by the matrix k-2 number of times, we get .

successive terms no longer changes, because it has converged to a specific value. In other words, the direction of is unchanged when it is multiplied by A. Rather it is scaled by some factor is equal to:

is the corresponding eigenvector. The goal is to

Remember the vector

is non-zero, so this equation implies there are non-trivial solutions for

This is

only true if the matrix the following:

(2) Set the determinant of

(3)

Plug this value back into the original equation

Therefore, the ratio of successive Fibonacci terms is equal to the Although truly remarkable, we will not explore the Golden Ratio's properties at the moment, but possibly in a future document. Its relationship with Fibonacci's sequence is one of the wonders of Mathematics, and both can be seen in nature as well as man-made structures.

Bibliography
"1959 - Donald Duck - Donald in Mathmagic Land - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRD4gb0p5RM>. "Fibonacci Number." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Fibonacci_number>. "Golden Ratio." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio>. Sevee, Denis. Linear Algebra 2 with Maple. Ste.Anne-de-Bellevue: John Abbott College, 2012. Print.

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