NUMB3RS - It All Started as a Pair of Rabbits

For the Student

• The description of the Fibonacci sequence from the student pages is called a recursive definition for the Fibonacci numbers, where each term after the first two is defined using the preceding terms. That is F1 = 1, F2 = 1, and for n > 2, Fn = Fn – 1 + Fn – 2. There is also an explicit formula that will yield the nth term directly. Try to derive it or find it by research (Hint: the 5 from the Golden Ratio will appear).
• There are many connections between Fibonacci numbers and different types of plants and animals. A related research project (perhaps for a science fair) might investigate if there is a DNA sequence that the plants and animals with Fibonacci connections share with each other, but not with other organisms.
• Even though Fibonacci posed his first problem about eight centuries ago, it is a remarkable source of inspiration even for today’s research mathematicians. Find The Fibonacci Quarterly, a mathematical journal published every three months that has current research related to this famed sequence. What questions are mathematicians currently investigating?
• Fibonacci made an even more profound contribution to mathematics when, after extensive travels, he brought the Hindu-Arabic number system to the West. This is the place value system we currently use. Before researching its evolution, try performing some multiplication using the Roman numeral system commonly used prior to Fibonacci’s introduction of Arabic numbers.