The Fibonacci Sequence and Classical Education

I Love Numbers!! 

Have you ever heard "Actions speak louder than words?" Well....I think that NUMBERS speak louder than words.

One of favorite series of numbers is the Fibonacci Sequence.

If you've never heard of the Fibonacci Sequence, here is a short explanation.

The Fibonacci Sequence is the series of numbers:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ...

The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it:

• the 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1),
• the 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+2),
• the 5 is (2+3),
• and so on!

Here is an even longer list of numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence 

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,144,233,377,610,987, 1597, 2584, 4181, 6765, 10946, 17711, 28657, 46368, 75025, 121393, 196418, 317811, 514229, ...

The NUMBERS make a PATTERN

What's especially cool about the pattern of the numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence is that when we make squares with the widths of the numbers in the sequence, they come together to make a SPIRAL!!

HOW COOL IS THAT!!

Take a closer look and you will notice that the squares in the spiral all fit neatly together.

1 and 1 fit together to make 2

2 and 3 fit together to make 5

3 and 5 fit together to make 8

5 and 8 fit together to make 13. 

The pattern goes on and on and on and on and on....

This SPIRAL is found in nature! Here are some examples. Look around you today and see where else you can discover the Fibonacci SPIRAL.

Who discovered the Fibonacci sequence?

The man who discovered this amazing sequence lived between 1170 and 1250 in Italy His real name was Leonardo Pisano Bogollo. "Fibonacci" was his nickname, which roughly means "Son of Bonacci".

As well as being famous for the Fibonacci Sequence, Fibonacci also helped to spread Hindu-Arabic Numerals (like our present numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) through Europe in place of Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, etc). That has saved us all a lot of trouble!

Fibonacci lived during one of the most well known "Classical" time periods, the Middle Ages. Classical education is all about looking at the world around us and exploring its beauty and complexities while learning from history and looking forward to the future. 

Classical education is laid out in a SPIRAL and it works best when all of the different subject areas are intertwined and taught in tandem. 

Join me on this journey as I explore Classical Education and share my experience with you as a Grammar Stage Classical teacher.

Classically yours,

Mrs. Aronowitz