"The Mystery of the Fibonacci Sequence Unraveled"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by Big Think
The Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical pattern found in nature, is not inherently linked to natural phenomena, but rather to pure mathematics. While the sequence appears in biological organisms due to the golden ratio's biological utility, it is only by pure coincidence that it appears in some physical sciences, including in a few spiral galaxies. The sequence is generated by adding the two prior terms together, and its ratios approach the golden ratio, φ, as the terms increase. A mathematical curiosity allows for the generation of the Fibonacci numbers by creating a fraction with 89 in the denominator and adding 9s on either side. This sequence is not self-similar and does not persist in most physical spirals, but it does appear in many biological organisms, including plants, due to evolutionary reasons.
