Mathematics in Nature
Mother Nature furnishes herself
with the beauty of mathematical symmetry. We can now examine
some of these beautiful examples as follows:
Hexagonal snowflakes are well
known to most of us.
Another rule of Nature is found
in seashells. The shapes of many of these shells are associated
with the spiral pattern in mathematics.
Moreover, if we take a closer
look of a tiny frond of a fern plant, we may be amazed
at its resemblance to the entire plant. This is related
to fractals' self-similarity in mathematics.
Except the first two terms, each term is the sum of the
preceding two terms, a mathematical series called the
Fibonacci series can be generated as follows:
1,1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, ¡K
It is interesting to note that such a Fibonacci series
appearing in a wide range of phenomena. The first phenomenon
is: the numbers of flower petals of most flowers turn
out to be 3, 5, 8 or 13. Then the clockwise and counter-clockwise
spiral pattern of seeds arranged on the sunflowers, the
arrangement of scales on fir cones and pineapples are
all associated with the Fibonacci series. These seemingly
symmetrical plants are actually not mirror-symmetric.
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