The Fibonacci Sequence

My idea is that if some Villager posts the first comment here it will be followed by a second post and then a sequence of posts and at the end of the day's posts we all will have been entertained and learned something and become better friends and our time here will have been well worthwhile.

And then the next day we will start the sequence all over again.

Which, all things considered, is quite a sequence of events.

the real truth,untold,was the origin of the musings of the lad;now just when would you have the time and concentration to work on such a stream of numbers?   He had 4 sisters,in a flat with one convenience...and he had to go- - real bad   .   viola!!

...strangely enough, that may also be the genesis of river dance.....

For my 8th? birthday, I got two ginuea pigs. The vendor assured my Dad they were both girls. We were Fibonacci'd!

I gots me whole lots of nothin'.....................
 
HAZEL............................... sounds like you had a wonderful time yesterday. Lucky kiddles!
 
Have a good day RY, HAZE, & LOT.................we are taking the kiddles to Memphis for the Christmas Village & an Imax Christmas movie at the Pink Palace Museum......................

"So he created a solar cell tree, using test branches arranged in that sequence, and produced a tree design that generated 50% more energy and almost three hours more sunlight during the day."

Not being as adept as some others at understanding and applying the physical sciences, I'm puzzled.  The "solar cell tree" I get.  But 50% more energy than what, other than a solar cell tree not designed after the Fibonacci sequence -- which could be any design other than Fibonacci, I guess. 

Also, I did not know that a solar cell tree of any design could "produce" ANY sunlight, let alone "three hours more in a day."  I thought that job was reserved for the sun, and it operated 24/7.

Is it April 1? Have I fallen for a PPJ (Peterman Practical Joke)?

paolos -- Help me out here!

The Golden Mean after the 12th number becomes 1.618.  I have used it for a tile border in a bathroom, and it is restful to the eye.  Buildings with that proportion work very well.  Another books is Robert Lawlor, Sacred Geometry (NY: Thames and Hudson, 1982).

Eeeew Lynn!~ How learned! My brain freezes over when confronted by numbers but I understand Fibonacci through the structure of sunflowers, globe artichokes, pineapples, corn on the cob, spiral seashells. What a wonderful world.

Forgot ~ Islamic tiles, Celtic knotwork. Sacred Geometry indeed.

As Joe Friday says, "Just the Fractals, Ma'am."...or something like that. I see a pattern that things are well...patterns and the space between the thing is as important as the thing, i.e. Snowflakes, leaves, lightening bolts, breaths. When I am on one of Leonardo's dream of magnificient flying machines, I am glad my flying sleigh of choice is climate controlled with free peanuts. Signore and young Aidan, the secrets to our success seem to be "in the numbers."

Lot ~ My thought, when reading your first post, was that we write an idea, write another based on that, and so on and so on and when we read them at the end of the day, we will find that inevitably we will be talking about ............................ food.

"I think that I shall never see a thing as lovely as a ......" solar cell tree?  Just doesn't work as  well.

I came to Cincinnati from Chicago as a math major, which proves the statically valid premise that one's 1st impression is usually the correct answer. I have to agree with the author's fundamental assumptions. Sometimes, however, one has trouble with the "human condition issue," where not everyone brings forward the (one) correct answer. We call these people "politicians." However I'm in no position to lecture ANYBODY. I walked away from a perfectly good career in either government or business in my areas of rudimentary but foundation talent, and voluntarily changed my major to pre-law.....

Off Topic: Am I the only one willing to admit that Saturday's Christmas Holiday party was a "dog & pony show?" Your torso & feet looked familiar, in spite of the lampshade that you insisted be utilized as a Fedora.....lol

No fan of numbers, numerals, digits, integers, ciphers, signs, quantums or sums, it is clear though that to subtract 85 from 11 can have devastating results.

oh, crap. Ask me to convert a recipe in any direction for any quantity, yes. As for Fibonacci, ..... Math was my downfall in school and my husband was always amused that as a merchant I could add 23 separate items in my head or could score certain board games, but thats arithmetic, not Math. I am still trying to factor Algebra into my life.

Aiden, Aiden, ... please go get an Xbox or Wii and have a normal childhood!!

Counting the spirals on tree branches - not so much a childhood game!

You are talking to an English major here, with a psych minor, so no lover of numbers, Leonardo, Fibonacci or otherwise! Only the ones in my checkbook...which right now are decreasing daily. Every year I tell myself I will cut back, but then Christmas comes, and the appeal of giving sets in.

BTW - Village, question....How do you get a friend from the 70's to stop sending you a Christmas present every year...without hurting feelings? I am out of ideas for what to get for her, and always wait to see if she will stop, but she doesn't, so then I have to go get her something, and mail it. Is there a nice Emily Post answer to this dilemma?

Foodwise - Our dinner for friends on Sat. went perfectly...beef tenderloin, baked potatoes with all the toppings, corn souffle, mixed greens salad with beets, key lime pie....Just perfect! Four hours with friends, good chat, nice fireplace glow, Christmas tree and mantel lights, and a great feeling of camaraderie. Such is the lovely atmosphere of this time of year...for which I am so grateful. Next, on to 12/23 and 3 days with family in Atlanta....

December 19, 2011 10:06 AM
George Hall said...

JaxZ~ Lovely story beautifukky told. KSS~ Great to see you back and your greater mind working. My experience with Northern Lights isn't as grand as JaxZ's but I assure you it is no less memorable. Wednesday night prayer meeting was being held at our house. Wayne Johnson was preaching because our regula Pastor John Earnest Whitener had 'backslid' and had gone back to hauling pulpwood and making liqour (John Earnest's wife Salena was at the meeting). A full moon lighted our valley as bright as day. I, as a lad of 8 or 9 years old, was hanging out on the front porch with some of the grownup sinners. Suddenly lights began to flash across the northern sky. No one had any idea  what they were but some of the grownups decided the  end of time was coming. I knew that when the end comes the moon would turn to blood so, scares as I was I was careful to check the moon for a sign. Old man JOhn Taylor kept checking his watch and saying "Well, feooers, looks like we're going to be going home soon. People began praying, Salena ran the two miles to her house to let John Earnest know he'd better get right because the end was coming.  I do not remember how it all ended but I vividly recall the lights and how scared I was. Its amazing to me how different events in our lives affect us. I'm pretty sure except for the Northern Ligts I'd benn a couple of inches taller,  handsome and with a full head of hair.  

George Hall: Nice post to JaxZ, bravo. In West Union, Adams County, the pastor they share with 2 other venues ("priest shortage") was hospitalized for a significant time (splintered back). Seems the Keystone Cops @ THE Courthouse finally figured out that he "fell asleep while sitting alone in an elevated (deer hunting) tree stand." Circumstantial evidence of what really MAY have happened (ingestion of White Lightning or of Adams County's biggest cash crop) was hard to intuit. The portion of the "Incident/Arrest Report" referencing "factors, if any, contributing to the injury" was mysteriously left blank, AND the "potential crime scene" was "sanitized" (draw your OWN conclusions, I occasionally have to do what passes for "work" in this venue, and have just gotten my neck of the double secret "people we just would LOVE to find in an awkward predicament" ...

It is said that Solomon, as a youth, wrote down
everything that King David said as though the ramifications of knowledge
were coins to be gained and husbanded avariciously, instead of liberating
influences to expand and gladden the psyche. It was said by Joseph Heller
and I don't believe he had a primary source, but I chuckle every time I read it
knowing full well that I copied it down as though the ramifications
of...maybe I am the only one who sees the humor in this, it wouldn't be the
first time. 
 
Bringing me to the enlightenment that
Digger 5 x 5 requests, enlightenment that only a few Eyetalians
other than myself (Guido Sarducci, Rosanne Roseannadanna come to mind) could
provide in fewer than one (but who is counting?) cogent paragraph.
Digger, I am puzzled by your first question because I was under
the impression that everyone hangs their ornaments on the Christmas tree using
some rudimentary form of the Fibonacci sequence.  I read Liber Abacci
at a young age, not only the chapters on number theory, but the chapters related
to Japanese fire bowls, Italian lawn bowling and a sequin jacketed pianist whose
love of candelabra is superseded only by his love of diamond rings.  That young
Aidan Dwyer not only read the Liber Abacci, but was able to apply it
to his arrayment of solar cells warms the cockles of my heart, keeping in mind
the quote that initiated this post.  If NRAO had used a Fibonacci sequence to
design their VLA http://www.vla.nrao.edu/  they would have
detected some indication of intelligent life on this planet and one or two
others by now.  That a properly arrayed solar cell tree can generate 50% more
energy that a properly ornamented Christmas tree is really no mystery, I hardly
know why you asked and that the same solar cell tree can produce three hours of
sunlight can easily be explained by Einstein's law of conservation of energy
which states (let me simplify it for time's sake) that the energy in a given
system remains constant. So to put it all into one glowing ball of explanation,
the sun loses energy and sunlight constantly.  A properly arrayed solar tree
will capture 12 hours of that energy, store nine and send three back to old Sol,
thus providing three hours of additional sunlight every day.  This also explains
daylight savings time and why our own dear Jane always has posts that are
significantly late arriving in any given day. I hope this covers everything (if
not read it one more time) and was not too boring for any English or Philosophy
majors who may be frequenting the Village today.  Whew, this can be hard
work.

In Tampa, Florida we have a building constructed on the Fibonacci number series.  It's locally called the Beer Can, because it's cylindrical.
 
Carolyn Hax wrote a column this week about elderly giftgivers.  Her advice was to relax and enjoy it.  It is something that the person enjoys doing and is part of his/her self-worth  Enjoy the giving.  However, instead of waiting to see if she stops, why don't you tell her that you have decided to no longer exchange gifts with people--getting too old for stuff--and give her a nice bottle of wine or a collection of teas or one of the expensive line of Smucker jams--something that can be used during the year instead of another tschoke that needs dusting.

That's too complex for my brain on Monday morning, I'm struggling just to stay awake and pretend to be a helpful and friendly financial institutiont employee.  Being friendly is exhausting.

Timothy Leary is saying to Christopher Hitchens, "The house has banned the crazy Italian guy from the Blackjack tables for at least 10,000 years. Fib counts cards. And that new arrival, the Korean guy with attitude and bad hair is destined to wear those clothes for eternity. Buzzkiller. By the way, God said to tell you, He doesn't exist."

I unfortunately do not have Paolos' gifts of linkage. I looked but could not find the part of The Phantom Tollbooth where they discuss the Fibonacci sequence. I may have learned about it earlier, but never better than the way it was captured in the book and the film.
 
Nachista~ I feel your pain today! Stay strong and remember that in the heart of every Scrooge there is a little Tiny Tim.
 
Mooseloop, I'm fairly certain that Emily Post would say the only polite thing to do is accept the gift. VeraM's solution is a lovely one, though. Or perhaps if she's close by, you could take her out for lunch or something after the new year - as I always think the best gift is companionship.
 
George, thanks for the story this morning - I needed the chuckle!

The mystery of number sequence, the wonders of nature, solar cell trees, extra hours of daylight.  WOW.  As I read the posts so far I realizeed all of us, whether scientificly inclined or more comfortable in the fine arts, are awed by nature, note the posts on the Northern Lights.  What came to mind was the words of a hymn I bet we all have heard.
 
  Oh, Lord, my God, when I in awsome wonder behold all the worlds that you have made....How great Thou art!
 
I wonder will we ever understand all of it.

Didn't we just do pig Latin?

All ya need to know is one and one is two, two and two is four, and five will getcha ten if you play your cards right.

The right side of my brain definitely needs to be watered.

I''m as far from understanding math as anyone can be.....  I agree with Hazel about the beauty of Islamic tiles and Celtic knotwork....yes!  that I can appreciate for its beauty

Last Grinch appearance that I am aware of at Indian Lake Elementary School. 3rd Graders are a tough crowd. They wanna believe but their skeptical side is emerging. Magic and Logic make for a strange brew. One of which I am still drinking. Knowing everything would take all of the fun out of this human adventure. "Double helix in the sky tonight break out the hardware let's do it right."   

Nachista ~ Being friendly is exhausting -- your cheeks start hurting from smiling; your lips get stuck on your teeth......so tiring :)
 
We had the family oer for an early Chanukah party -- it was the only time we could all get together.  So much fun.  I'm still smiling from our little two year old Noah singing the abc song "a-b-c-d-e-f-hkm - now you know your abc's tell me what you think of of me -- yay!"  clapping, big smile.  So much fun.

Andy I just had to fake gratitude and friendliness to the CEO and head of HR. 
 
At the first of the month they promised yearly bonuses like they have always done and asked us to let them know whether we wanted it in cash, restaurant gift cards, or deposited into our accounts here at our financial institution.  Last week we got an email that they decided it wouldn't look prudent to give any bonuses and that they'd be coming branch to branch to give everyone "a small token of our appreciation for all your hard work and dedication".
 
They were just at my desk.  Their small token of appreciation for all my hard work and my $2 million + funded loans from dealers was a Terry's chocolate orange.  And I know they got them at a local store because I saw the HR woman there last night picking them up from the bargain bin 3 for $5.  My butt-kissing to save deals that dealers wanted to save elsewhere, my upselling people on GAP and other debt protection insurances, all my hard work and long hours, the extra things I've done to make working here a nice thing for everyone, the driving to customer's homes to close deals so we don't lose them.  All of that extra work is worth approximately $1.67 in there eyes.
 
I really don't want to be ungrateful but I'd rather they not done anything at all.  Especially since I know that the board of directors voted to give themselves raises.  The whole thing just steams me.  I'm so glad I only have an hour left to work.  I can fake it for an hour.

Oh, Nachista - hopefully you have all the ingredients at home to make yourself a lovely hot cocoa when you get home.
I'm so, so, so, sorry. Talk about tone deaf. I'm just stunned by the ignorance and greed that happens some times. HUGS!

In keeping with the season, if you type 'let it snow' in the Google search bar, you'll find yourself in a frostypaned winter wonderland. I love that kind of whimsy! 

Oh Nachista, poor baby.  Hot cocoa would be good, but in my freezer, where everyone else keeps frozen juice, I have vodka, Grey Goose and Ciroc -- I think that may do the trick, a little ice, a couple of olives and you have a definite "ahhhh" moment.

Miss Cassiepants ~  As you wish
 
http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/swf/phantom.html
 
 
34

No wait, it gets better.   My car was sideswiped in the grocery store parking lot and the jerk didn't leave any insurance information and I have a foot long crease in my door now.  When I got home the big dog had eaten a loaf of bread my husband left out and then vomited all over the house.  Then I went to get the mail and there is a bill from my husband's CT scan they made him have over thanksgiving weekend for kidney stones even though we knew it was kidney stones...$1400+, we already paid the radiologist's bill of $400 for looking at the scan and telling us it was kidney stones.   I'm lucky I can borrow money from my parents at a low interest rate and pay them back as I can, but it still just makes me so very angry that less than an hour worth of medical treatment costs $1800 (I haven't even factored in the co-pays, parking fees, and prescriptions we paid for that weekend, and that is WITH insurance.  The cost of "health care" in this country is out of control.  It is cheaper to die than to get treated. I think the kicker that sent me over the edge is that the hospital had the gall to write "We know you have choices when it comes to medical care, thank you for choosing us!"  I am exhausted and angry and I'm going to bed even though it is only 6:30 because I just can't stay awake and think about this crappy day any longer.  Some days you just can't catch a break.

The scenery in An Affair to Remember is stunning. "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories... " Ms Kerr gets the job done.

Biomimicry, I do find it uplifting that humankind is finally catching on to the concept tha nature is a natural mentor.

It has been right there, before our eyes. The forest that cannot be seen 'cos of all the trees.

A step away from the 'not invented by us syndrome' that is so often a barrier to progress that we put in our way.

The real good news is that there is always room for dreamers. Left brainers and right brainers shaking hands.

Kinda makes me want to howl at the moon tonight.

Peace out...

Nachista, I do know that it is easier said than done, but the best way to avoid this kind of dissapointment is to revel in the idea that you are being the best you can be at whatever you may be doing...take comfort and pride in that. No one can take that away from you.

Somehow this removes some of the bumps on the road to better things.

I don't mean to sound all 'new age-n-such, 'cos I'm not. I just believe it to be an elemental truism.... A law of nature.

Be well

PL~ While you are absolutely correct in the long term, I believe Nachista might be better off with a nice trip to one of those places where the Japanese break dishes to relieve tension.

Nach- While the miserable sob(s) scrooge their way through life remember the immortal words of Spiny Tim- "Screw um screw em everyone." Indiana Jones got the advice very early in life. "...you may have lost today kid but that doesn't mean you have to like it." Actually PL has much better and wiser advice, I just like a twist of revenge in my mar-two-ni.

I read about this matematical sequence in the spring.  Fascinating.  I got excited because I believed the number sequence from "LOST" was  this type of sequence, but it was not. .  . . hmmmm.Did ANYONE here ever figure out the sequence?  I realize the numbers in some ways were symbolic:  23 represented Jack, but it was as though the writers would introduce an idea, run with it for a few episodes, and then drop it.

I read about this matematical sequence in the spring.  Fascinating.  I got excited because I believed the number sequence from "LOST" was  this type of sequence, but it was not. .  . . hmmmm.Did ANYONE here ever figure out the sequence?  I realize the numbers in some ways were symbolic:  23 represented Jack, but it was as though the writers would introduce an idea, run with it for a few episodes, and then drop it. oh, Nachista, I am so sorry about your day.  Here's a {{hug}}} for you.  I wish I could make things better for you tonight.

G'day everyone! Jax, George Hall, Hazel, CD, Lynn  etc...etc...thanks for all the recent funny or interesting posts.  I haven't had a chance to post but did happily read the entries. It was great to
see KSS dropping by and Bert! Bert! Congratulations! There goes a good man off the market...<lol> ....
Fibonacci.....one of my favourite subjects at work which I try not to let on as they think I am practicing some voodoo art. I even have a Fibonacci gauge or compass.  It is not the sequence that is important. It is the RATIO between them....

1 , 1 ,2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233 ....  each new number is being formed by adding the  preceding two numbers.    Each number divided by the previous number (eg. 233/144) eventually stabilises to 1.618, which is the Golden Ratio or phi, and, as it is so pervasive in nature and aesthetically pleasing, it is somewhat referred to as Nature's number.  That is just the basic of course, as there is the reverse ration of 0.618, also, ratios between numbers in the  sequence, giving
0.382, 2.618 etc...Do you know that when stock prices "retrace" for instance, they tend to retrace in 38% or 62%, also 50% (2 divide by 1).  When one is looking for how far market prices can run in a trend, it tends to 2.618 of the previous move. 

Hazel's and Carol's knotwork involves "fractal" using repeated pattern, which can be spaced out one-to-one or in increasing ratios involving the Fibonacci ratio. Many computer generated movies nowadays do that (eg a lava scene in Star wars).

The young man in the lead-in artcicle is very clever, his interview here will help explain what he did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hvD5kLqjuw&feature=related ;

Spring Rain, it has been speculated that the numbers may refer to the Valenzetti Equation, which supposedly predicts when mankind is extinguished: 
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Valenzetti_Equation

Yesterday was a day for copying and saving brilliant posts: JaxZ, ChefDeb, Park4 and good old Gearge.
Today, not so much.
Sorry, Nachista, about your very bad day. Good thing you're a tough cookie.
Good luck.
Funny that so many see answers in numbers to questions that do not make sense in the first place.
Digger ~
I'm with you on sunlight.
paolos ~
Take a deep, deep breath. Let it all out… hold that 'til I get back to you.

Sorry nachista, I was writing while you were posting again. Cassiepants is right, go break some dishes....not yours of course, kick the doggie, .... I hope it gets better soon.

John

Another dose of Sherlock Holmes this weekend while I think on a numbers day there should be >50 posts since "the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision
what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician.” -- THE SIGN OF FOUR

Some years back, I was visiting a friend in the south of France, and we ended up doing some shopping in a place that had something like a hybrid automotive and home repair store. They made replacement tags for cars and I thought, I have always wanted to have a suitable and appropriate vanity tag for the front of my old body style BMW. It would be deep yellow and oblong, sort of super highly horizontal like a european tag rather than the more conventional rectangular American license plate.

They asked what I wanted put on the plate, and without hesitation but without having mulled it in advance, I suggested that they use my initials for the first part, a cluster of letters, and then make the subsequent number cluster be the first four digits of the Fibonacci series. I wasn't try to flaunt anything. But It became a personal cipher that stayed on the car for the longest time (in fact, til I moved to Texas, which requires identical TX tags on front and back).

{{laughing}} I just snuck into yesterday (so glad we can do that here) and posted a thank you for all the sweet nods and that I'd copied some of the beautiful posts. Numbers depress me much of the time unless I'm giving them away.

PL, the right side of my brain is in desperate need of a tropical rain. Let's go to Bali.

Nos da Village!

Spring Fragrance, love your post, but you got me all faked out with the Valenzetti equation. I have just been all over the interweb reading about it only to find out that it is a fiction associated with a TV show I have never heard of and never seen.

Jax...... I'm already there. Did not bring an umbrella.