IDENTIFYING

PATTERNS IN
NATURE AND
REGULARITIES IN
THE WORLD
Prepared by: Prof. Maridil Isidro
POINTERS
• What, Where and Roles of Mathematics
• ​Patterns & Regularities
• Fibonacci Sequence
• ​Golden Measurements ( Golden Rectangle, Triangle & Ratio)
• Application of Mathematics in the Modern World
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WHAT IS MATHEMATICS?
 Mathematics is the study of pattern and structure.
Mathematics is fundamental to the physical and
biological sciences, engineering and information
technology, to economics and increasingly to the social
sciences.
 Mathematics is a useful way to think about nature and
our world.
 Mathematics is a tool to quantify, organize and control
our world, predict phenomena and make life easier for
us.
WHERE IS MATHEMATICS?
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 Many patterns and occurrences exists

in nature, in our world, in our life.
Mathematics helps make sense of
these patterns and occurrences.
 WHAT ROLE DOES
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MATHEMATICS PLAY IN OUR

WORLD?
 Mathematics helps organize patterns and regularities in our
world.
 Mathematics helps predict the behavior of nature and
phenomena in the world.
 Mathematics helps control nature and occurrences in the
world for our own ends.
 Mathematics has numerous applications in the world making
it indispensable.
PATTERN & NUMBERS
IN NATURE
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NATURE AND THE WORLD

• Patterns can be observed even in stars which move in circles across the sky each
day.
• The weather season cycle each year. All snowflakes contains sixfold symmetry
which no two are exactly the same.
• Patterns can be seen in fish patterns like spotted trunkfish, spotted puffer, blue
spotted stingray, spotted moral eel, coral grouper, redlion fish, yellow boxfish and
angel fish. These animals and fish stripes and spots attest to mathematical
regularities in biological growth and form.
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 PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN 9

NATURE AND THE WORLD

• Zebras, tigers, cats and snakes are covered in patterns of stripes; leopards
and hyenas are covered in pattern of spots and giraffes are covered in
pattern of blotches.
• Natural patterns like the intricate waves across the oceans; sand dunes on
deserts; formation of typhoon; water drop with ripple and others. These
serves as clues to the rules that govern the flow of water, sand and air.
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PATTERNS AND REGULARITIES

 TYPES OF PATTERNS
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TYPES OF PATTERNS
1. SYMMETRY – a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion of balance
or an object is invariant to any various transformations (reflection, rotation
or scaling.)
Bilateral Symmetry: a symmetry in which the left and right sides of the
organism can be divided into approximately mirror image of each other along
the midline. Symmetry exists in living things such as in insects, animals,
plants, flowers and others. Animals have mainly bilateral or vertical
symmetry, even leaves of plants and some flowers such as orchids.
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TYPES OF PATTERNS
Radial Symmetry ( or rotational symmetry ): a symmetry around a fixed point known
as the center and it can be classified as either cyclic or dihedral. Plants often have
radial or rotational symmetry, as to flowers and some group of animals. A five-fold
symmetry is found in the echinoderms, the group in which includes starfish (dihedral-
D5 symmetry), sea urchins and sea lilies. Radial symmetry suits organism like sea
anemones whose adults do not move and jellyfish(dihedral-D4 symmetry). Radial
symmetry is also evident in different kinds of flowers.
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 TYPES OF PATTERNS
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TYPES OF PATTERNS

2. FRACTALS – a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same
statistical character as the whole. A fractal is a never-ending pattern found
in nature. The exact same shape is replicated in a process called “self
similarity.” The pattern repeats itself over and over again at different scales.
For example, a tree grows by repetitive branching. This same kind of
branching can be seen in lightning bolts and the veins in your body. Examine
a single fern or an aerial view of an entire river system and you’ll see fractal
patterns.
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TYPES OF PATTERNS

3. SPIRALS - A logarithmic spiral or growth spiral is a self-similar spiral curve

which often appears in nature. It was first describe by Rene Descartes and
was later investigated by Jacob Bernoulli. A spiral is a curved pattern that
focuses on a center point and a series of circular shapes that revolve around
it. Examples of spirals are pine cones, pineapples, hurricanes. The reason for
why plants use a spiral form is because they are constantly trying to grow but
stay secure.
FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
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FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where a number is found
by adding up the two numbers before it. Starting with 0 and 1, the sequence
goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so forth. Written as a rule, the
expression is

 Named after Fibonacci, also known as Leonardo of Pisa or Leonardo

Pisano, Fibonacci numbers were first introduced in his Liber Abbaci (Book of
Calculation) in 1202. The son of a Pisan merchant, Fibonacci traveled widely
and traded extensively. Mathematics was incredibly important to those in
the trading industry, and his passion for numbers was cultivated in his youth.

 
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One of the book’s exercises

which is written like this “A man
put a pair of rabbits in a place
surrounded on all sides by a
wall. How many pairs of rabbits
are produced from that pair in a
year, if it supposed that every
month each pair produces a new
pair, which from the second
month onwards becomes
productive?” This is best
understood in this diagram:
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GOLDEN RECTANGLE
Leonardo of Pisa also known as
Fibonacci discovered a sequence of
numbers that created an interesting
numbers that created an interesting
pattern the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,
21, 34… each number is obtained by
adding the last two numbers of the
sequence forms what is known as golden
rectangle a perfect rectangle.

A golden rectangle can be broken down into squares the size of the next Fibonacci
number down and below. If we were to take a golden rectangle, break it down to
smaller squares based from Fibonacci sequence and divide each with an arc, the
pattern begin to take shapes, we begin with Fibonacci spiral in which we can see in
nature.
FIBONACCI NUMBERS & SEQUENCE IN NATURE 24

Flower petals exhibit the Fibonacci

number, white calla lily contains 1 petal,
euphorbia contains 2 petals, trillium
contains 3 petals, columbine contains 5
petals, bloodroot contains 8 petals, black-
eyed susan contains 13 petals, shasta
daisies 21 petals, field daisies contains 34
petals and other types of daisies contain
55 and 89 petals..
The Fibonacci sequence can also be seen in the
way tree branches form or split. A main trunk
will grow until it produces a branch, which
creates two growth points. Then, one of the
new stems branches into two, while the other
one lies dormant. This pattern of branching is
repeated for each of the new stems. A good
example is the sneezewort. Root systems and
even algae exhibit this pattern.
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 GOLDEN
MEASUREMENTS
 GOLDEN RATIO 27

The golden ratio was first called as the Divine Proportion in the early 1500s in
Leonardo da Vinci’s work which was explored by Luca Pacioli entitled “De Divina
Proportione” in 1509. This contains the drawings of the five platonic solids and it was
probably da Vinci who first called it “section aurea” which is Latin for Golden Secion.

In mathematics, two quantities are in the Golden ratio if their ratio is the same of their
sum to the larger of the two quantities. The Golden Ratio is the relationship between
numbers on the Fibonacci sequence where plotting the relationships on scales results
in a spiral shape. In simple terms, golden ratio is expressed as an equation, where a is
larger than b, (a+b) divided by a is equal to a divided by b, which is equal to
1.618033987…and represented by (phi).

𝒂+ 𝒃 𝒂
𝝋= = =1.618033987 …
𝒂 𝒃
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 GOLDEN TRIANGLE 29

Golden ratio can be deduced in an isosceles triangle. If we take the isosceles triangle
that has the two base angles of 72 degrees and we bisect one of the base angles, we
should see that we get another golden triangle that is similar to the golden rectangle.
If we apply the same manner as the golden rectangle, we should get a set of whirling
triangles. With these whirling triangles, we are able to draw a logarithmic spiral that
will converge at the intersection of the two lines. The spiral converges at the
intersection of the two lines and this ratio of the lengths of these two lines is in the
Golden Ratio.
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GOLDEN RATIO IN NATURE

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1. Flower petals

2. Faces

3. Body Parts

4. Seed heads

5. Fruits, Vegetables & Trees

6. Shell, hurricanes & spiral galaxies

 GOLDEN RATIO IN ART 40

The golden ratio can be used to achieve beauty, balance and

harmony in art, architecture and design. It can be used as a
tool in art and design to achieve balance in the composition.
Check out some examples of golden ratio in arts.

• In “Timaeus” Plato describes five possible regular solids

that relate to the golden ratio which is now known as
Platonic Solids. He also considers the golden ratio to be
the most bringing of all mathematical relationships.

• Euclid was the first to give definition of the golden ratio as

“a dividing line in the extreme and mean ratio” in his book
the “Elements”. He proved the link of the numbers to the
construction of the pentagram, which is now known as
golden ratio. Each intersections to the other edges of a
pentagram is a golden ratio. Also the ratio of the length of
the shorter segment to the segment bounded by the two
intersecting lines is a golden ratio.
 GOLDEN RATIO IN ART 41

Leonardo da Vinci was into many interests such as

invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science,
music, mathematics, engineering, literature,
anatomy, geology, botany, writing, history and
cartography. He used the golden ratio to define the
fundamental portions in his works. He incorporated
the golden ratio in his own paintings such as the
Vitruvian Man, The Last Supper, Monalisa and St.
Jerome in the Wilderness.

Michaelangelo di Lodovico Simon was considered

the greatest living artists of his time. He used golden
ratio in his painting “The Creation of Adam” which
can be seen on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His
painting used the golden ratio showing how God’s
finger and Adam’s finger meet precisely at the
golden ratio point of the weight and the height of
the area that contains them.
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Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino or more popularly known as Raphael was also a painter and
architect from the Rennaisance. In his painting “The School of Athens,”, the division
between the figures in the painting and their proportions are distributed using the
golden ration. The golden triangle and pentagram can also be found in Raphael’s
painting “Crucifixion”.
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Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino or more popularly known as Raphael was also a painter and
architect from the Rennaisance. In his painting “The School of Athens,”, the division
between the figures in the painting and their proportions are distributed using the
golden ration. The golden triangle and pentagram can also be found in Raphael’s
painting “Crucifixion”.
 GOLDEN RATIO IN ARCHITECTURE 44

The Great Pyramid of Giza built 4700 BC in

Ahmes Papyrus of Egypt is with proportion
according to a “Golden Ratio”. The length of each
side of the base is 756 feet with a height of 481
feet. The ratio of the base to the height is roughly
1.5717, which is close to the Golden ratio.

Notre Dame is a Gothic Cathedral in Paris, which

was built in between 1163 and 1250. It appears to
have a golden ratio in a number of its key
proportions of designs.

The Taj Mahal in India used the golden ratio in its

construction and was completed in 1648. The
order and proportion of the arches of the Taj
Mahal on the main structure keep reducing
proportionately following the golden ratio.
 GOLDEN RATIO IN NATURE 45

Age of the trees can be determined by applying

dendrochronology which is a scientific method of
dating based on the amount of rings found in the
core of a tree.

Turtles have growth rings called “scutes” which

are hexagonal.

Scutes estimates the age of the turtle.

Smallest scute is in the center and is the oldest

one, while the largest ones on the outside are the
newer ones.

Zebra’s coat, the alternating pattern of blacks and

white are due to mathematical rules that govern
the pigmentation chemicals of its skin.