The golden ratio manages to capture some types of plant growth, Devlin said. Read more: The 9 most massive numbers in existence The ratio of successive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence gets ever closer to the golden ratio, which is 1.6180339887498948482. It's true that the Fibonacci sequence is tightly connected to what's now known as the golden ratio, phi, an irrational number that has a great deal of its own dubious lore.
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However, it's not some secret code that governs the architecture of the universe, Devlin said. Other than being a neat teaching tool, the Fibonacci sequence shows up in a few places in nature. (Image credit: Shutterstock) Why is the Fibonacci sequence important?
The Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio are eloquent equations, but they aren't as magical as they may seem. In 1877, French mathematician Édouard Lucas officially named the rabbit problem "the Fibonacci sequence," Devlin said. In fact, it was mostly forgotten until the 19th century, when mathematicians worked out more about the sequence's mathematical properties. But after a few scant paragraphs on breeding rabbits, Leonardo of Pisa never mentioned the sequence again. "Liber Abaci" first introduced the sequence to the Western world. Read more: 9 equations that changed the world The answer, it turns out, is 144 - and the formula used to get to that answer is what's now known as the Fibonacci sequence. (Ignore the wildly improbable biology here.) After a year, how many rabbits would you have? A month later, those rabbits reproduce and out comes - you guessed it - another male and female, who also can mate after a month. After a month, they mature and produce a litter with another male and female rabbit.
The problem goes as follows: Start with a male and a female rabbit. In one place in the book, Leonardo of Pisa introduces the sequence with a problem involving rabbits. Written for tradesmen, "Liber Abaci" laid out Hindu-Arabic arithmetic useful for tracking profits, losses, remaining loan balances and so on, he added.
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However, in 1202 Leonardo of Pisa published the massive tome "Liber Abaci," a mathematics "cookbook for how to do calculations," Devlin said. (Image credit: Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images) However, in 1202 in a massive tome, he introduces the sequence with a problem involving rabbits. Portrait of Leonardo Fibonacci, who was thought to have discovered the famous Fibonacci sequence.
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