Hooray for Leonardo Fibonacci!
photo from Wikipedia
Leonardo Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who lived from 1170 to 1250. He was famous enough that people made statues of him. This doesn't happen to nearly enough mathematicians, I'd say.
The sequence which bears his name follows a simple rule: each number is the sum of the two prior numbers. If you begin with 0 and 1, to find the next number you add those two together (0+1=1) thus giving you another 1 for a sequence of 0, 1, 1. The next number is 1+1 leading to the sequence becoming 0, 1, 1, 2. Taking 2+1 to find the next number gives a sequence of 0, 1, 1, 2, 3. The Fibonacci sequence continues as long as you can keep adding: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and on and on and on.
See below for some Fibonacci resources. But first...
The sequence which bears his name follows a simple rule: each number is the sum of the two prior numbers. If you begin with 0 and 1, to find the next number you add those two together (0+1=1) thus giving you another 1 for a sequence of 0, 1, 1. The next number is 1+1 leading to the sequence becoming 0, 1, 1, 2. Taking 2+1 to find the next number gives a sequence of 0, 1, 1, 2, 3. The Fibonacci sequence continues as long as you can keep adding: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and on and on and on.
See below for some Fibonacci resources. But first...
More on Fibonacci
If you're looking for information on Leonardo himself, here are three ideas....
An encyclopedia or Wikipedia are good places to start.
Joseph D'Agnese's picture book biography, Blockhead, is a great read.
If you really want to dig in, Keith Devlin's The Man of Numbers will give you a ton of information.
If you want to have some Fibonacci fun, I highly recommend this video by Vi Hart as a place to start. It's the first in a series, and they're all worth a watch.
An encyclopedia or Wikipedia are good places to start.
Joseph D'Agnese's picture book biography, Blockhead, is a great read.
If you really want to dig in, Keith Devlin's The Man of Numbers will give you a ton of information.
If you want to have some Fibonacci fun, I highly recommend this video by Vi Hart as a place to start. It's the first in a series, and they're all worth a watch.