23rd November: Fibonacci Day

Every November 23rd, Fibonacci Day honors Leonardo Bonacci, one of the most influential mathematicians of the Middle Ages. The date corresponds to the first numbers of the Fibonacci sequence  – 1 1 2 3.

Fibonacci is an Italian mathematician who is also known as Leonardo of Pisa and Leonardo Fibonacci. Some say Fibonacci invented the Fibonacci sequence. This pattern of counting means that each number is the sum of the previous two. (0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13, etc.) Computer data storage and processing use this number sequence today. The sequence is also useful in the trading of stocks and architecture. Another unexpected place we find the sequence is in nature. DNA patterns and hurricanes contain patterns showing this sequence. Math and science classes refer to the Fibonacci sequence as “nature’s secret code” or “nature’s universal rule.”

History

Who’s the man? That would be Leonardo of Pisa, known today as Fibonacci. He was not the first to think of it however, just the first to bring it to the European world and bring awareness to its importance in the furthering of science. The sequence itself first appeared in Indian Mathematics, known as Virahanka numbers, and was connected with Sanskrit prosody. The number sequence is also tied to the golden ratio and the golden triangle, both of which appear again and again in nature, as does the sequence itself.

Fibonacci hashtag: #FibonacciDay #fibonacci