DR.

SANTOSH KUMAR YADAV

St Paul’s Staircase
You can walk up steps by going up one at a time or two at a time.

If you have three steps there are 3 ways you can walk up them:
St Paul’s Staircase
If there were 4 steps there are 5 ways. Here are just two:

Can you find the other 3 ways?????

 St Paul’s Staircase
Investigate how many ways there are to step up staircases with 1,2,
5 and 6 steps.

Record your results in a table.

Can you spot a pattern?

Square Spiral

29 little boxes down

Box Side
1 1

1 little square 15 little

boxes
across
 29 little boxes down
Box Side
1 1
2 1

15 little
1 more little square boxes
across
 29 little boxes down
Box Side
1 1
2 1
3 2
2
x
2
sq
u
ar
e

15 little
boxes
across
 Box Side
1 1
3

2 1
x
3

3 2
sq
u

4
ar
e
 Box Side
1 1
3

2 1
x
3

3 2
sq
u

4
ar
e

Now complete the pattern to fill

your page as much as possible.
Box Side
1 1
2 1
3 2
4
Box Side
1 1
2 1
3 2
4
Box Side
1 1
2 1
3 2
4
Box Side
1 1
2 1
3 2
4
Draw your own “Nautilus”
shell by drawing quarter
circles in each square and
joining to form the spiral
 The Fibonacci Numbers
The number pattern that you have been using is known as
the Fibonacci sequence.
}+

1 1 2
 The Fibonacci Numbers
The number pattern that you have been using is known as
the Fibonacci sequence.
}+

1 1 2 3
 The Fibonacci Numbers
The number pattern that you have been using is known as
the Fibonacci sequence.
}+
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55

These numbers can be seen in many natural situations

Fibonacci’s sequence… in nature

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584…
Fibonacci’s sequence… in nature
Take a look at a cauliflower.
Count the number of florets in the spirals.
The number in one direction and in the other
will be Fibonacci numbers.

If you look closer at a single floret, it is a mini

cauliflower with its own little florets all
arranged in spirals around a centre.
If you can, count the spirals in both
directions. How many are there?

Now look at the stem. Where the florets

are rather like a pinecone or pineapple.
The florets were arranged in spirals up
the stem. Counting them again shows
the Fibonacci numbers.
Try the same thing for broccoli.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584…
Fibonacci’s sequence… in nature
On many plants, the number of petals is a
Fibonacci number:

Buttercups have 5 petals; lilies and iris have 3

petals; some delphiniums have 8; corn marigolds
have 13 petals; some asters have 21 whereas
daisies can be found with 34, 55 or even 89 petals.

13 petals: ragwort, corn marigold, cineraria, some

daisies
21 petals: aster, black-eyed susan, chicory
34 petals: plantain, pyrethrum
55, 89 petals: michaelmas daisies, the asteraceae
family.

Some species are very precise about the number

of petals they have - eg buttercups, but others
have petals that are very near those above, with
the average being a Fibonacci number.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584…
Fibonacci’s sequence… in nature
One plant in particular shows
the Fibonacci numbers in the
number of "growing points"
that it has.

Suppose that when a plant

puts out a new shoot, that
shoot has to grow two
months before it is strong
enough to support branching.

If it branches every month

after that at the growing
point, we get the picture
shown here.

A plant that grows very much

like this is the "sneezewort“.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584…
Fibonacci… and
his rabbits
Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci is best
remembered for his problem about
rabbits. The answer – the Fibonacci
sequence -- appears naturally throughout
nature.

But his most important contribution to

maths was to bring to Europe the number
system we still use today.
OK, OK…
In 1202 he published his Liber Abaci Let’s talk
which introduced Europeans to the rabbits…
numbers first developed in India by the
Hindus and then used by the Arabic
mathematicians… the decimal numbers.

We still use them today.

Suppose a newly-born pair of
rabbits, one male, one female,
are put in a field.

Rabbits are able to mate at the

age of one month. So at the end
of its second month a female
can produce another pair of
rabbits.

Suppose that our rabbits never

die. And the female always
produces one new pair (one
male, one female) every month
from the second month on.

The puzzle that I posed was...

How many pairs will there be in

one year?
 Pairs
1 pair

At the end of the first month there is still only one pair
 Pairs
1 pair

End first month… only one pair

1 pair
At the end of the second month the female produces a
new pair, so now there are 2 pairs of rabbits

2 pairs
 Pairs
1 pair

End first month… only one pair

1 pair

End second month… 2 pairs of rabbits

2 pairs

At the end of the

third month, the
original female
3 pairs
produces a second
pair, making 3 pairs
in all in the field.
 Pairs
1 pair

End first month… only one pair

1 pair

End second month… 2 pairs of rabbits

2 pairs

End third month…

3 pairs
3 pairs

5 pairs

At the end of the fourth month, the first pair produces yet another new pair, and the female
born two months ago produces her first pair of rabbits also, making 5 pairs.
1
1
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
55
 Fibonacci in Music
The intervals between keys on a piano are Fibonacci numbers.

5
3 2

8 white
13 w & b
Fibonacci in Nature
The lengths of bones in a
hand are Fibonacci
numbers.
 Fibonacci in Nature
Spirals, like the one you drew earlier are common in nature.
 Patterns in Fibonacci
Complete the ‘Fibonacci Numbers’ sheet using column addition

1+1 = 2
1+2 = 3
2+3 = 5
3+5 = 8
5+8 = 13
8+13 = 21
13+21 = 34
Colour all the even numbers in blue and all the even numbers
in red.
What do you notice about the patterns in the colouring?
 Patterns in Fibonacci
On another completed Fibonacci sheet,
use your knowledge of divisibility rules to

a) colour in blue the multiples of 5

b) colour in red the multiples of 3
c) underline the multiples of 6

What patterns can you see?

What if you extend the sequence?

Are there any patterns in the multiples of 10?

The Golden Ratio
 The Golden Ratio
The Golden (or Divine)
Ratio has been talked
about for thousands of 1.618
years.

People have shown that

all things of great beauty
1
have a ratio in their
dimensions of a number
around 1.618
The ratio of pairs of Fibonacci numbers gets closer to the
golden ratio
ratio
55+89 = 144
1.618
34+55 = 89
1.618
21+34 = 55
1.618
13+21 = 34
1.619
8+13 = 21
1.615
5+8 = 13
1.625
3+5 = 8
1.6
2+3 = 5
1.666
1+2 = 3
1.5
1+1 = 2
 The Golden Ratio
Leonardo da Vinci showed
that in a ‘perfect man’ there
were lots of measurements
that followed the Golden
Ratio.
 Now measure and record the following information for
each of the people in your group. Display your results in
a table like this:
h
Height of Naval
Name Height (in cm) Ratio n
(in cm)

You could also try this with fingertip to shoulder and fingertip to elbow
 Plenary Activity
Make up a poster telling someone about the Fibonacci Numbers.

• You can include any work you have already done

• Include some pictures to make it attractive

• Use the Internet to find some more information

about the Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Ratio
THANK YOU !

ANY QUESTION ?