Nature’s numbers
Cambridge & Great Eastern Regional Group meeting, March 2007
 Bringing together
mathematics, fruit and animals
in a fascinating way, Ron Knott
gave a lecture on ‘Five a day with
nature’s numbers’ to an audience
of around 85 people, including
children, on 17 March 2007,
as part of the Cambridge Science
Festival.
At the meeting, supported by
the SCI’s Cambridge and Great
Eastern regional group, Knott
explored the mathematical patterns
that connect the structures
of fruit and vegetables that we
eat everyday, and of flowers and
sea shells. He showed how the
Fibonacci sequence and the golden
section number Phi was used
in creating beautiful art, architecture
and music. He also described
how this series of numbers
is linked to the family trees
of honey bees.
Knott brought along a variety
of fruits and vegetables to demonstrate
these patterns and gave
a practical, interactive demonstration
of the importance of Phi. The
event was enjoyed by all who attended.
In future I, for one, will
be looking at fruit, vegetables and
plants in a totally new light.
Further details can be found
on Ron Knott’s website www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/
Fibonacci.
- The Fibonacci sequence 0, 1, 1, 2,
3, 5, 8, 13, … is generated by adding
the last two numbers to get the next
in the series.
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