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A Fibonacci spiral created by drawing a line through the squares in the Fibonacci tiling; this one uses squares of sizes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 34; seeGolden spiral
TheFibonacci numbers are asequence of numbers inmathematics named afterLeonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci. Fibonacci wrote a book in 1202, calledLiber Abaci ("Book of Calculation"), which introduced the number pattern to Western European mathematics, although mathematicians inIndia already knew about it.[1][2]
The first number of the pattern is 0, the second number is 1, and each number after that is equal to adding the two numbers right before it together. For example 0+1=1 and 3+5=8. This sequence goes on forever.
Sunflower head displaying florets in spirals of 34 and 55 around the outside
Fibonacci numbers are related to thegolden ratio, which shows up in many places in buildings and in nature.[3] Some examples are the pattern ofleaves on a stem, the parts of apineapple,[4] the flowering ofartichoke, the uncurling of afern and the arrangement of apine cone.[5] The Fibonacci numbers are also found in the family tree ofhoneybees.[6][7]
The nth Fibonacci number can be written in terms of the golden ratio. This avoids having to userecursion to calculate Fibonacci numbers, which can take a computer a long time to do.
