Maths and numbers are a weakness with me. I can do a
household budget, calculate direct debits and save for what I need. Anything
beyond that and all I can summon is a look of panic. I’ve been told its lack of confidence, but it
is more like a mental block. I can do the sums but it takes me twice as long as
everyone else. I count on my fingers. My times tables have long been forgotten,
I’ve avoided maths for as long as I can remember. It’s my shame.
Yet I am drawn to the Fibonacci sequence. This completely
baffles me but excites me at the same time. I find it absolutely fascinating
that it permeates the very world around us to the core.
For those unfamiliar with the Fibonacci numbers, they are a
sequence of numbers. Each number is the sum of the previous two before it. For
example;
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144...
And so it goes on. More detailed numbery goodness is here for
those who can understand it (not me) here.
With my aversion to numbers I stumbled across the Fibonacci
sequence when looking at an art blog and it set me off researching. The Fibonacci numbers, when made into an
image represent the ‘golden rectangle’, or the ‘golden mean’. Each number is
represented by a square. Number 1 starts off at one size, next to it would be
another square the same size to represent the next number one, then number two
would be twice as large, then three would be three times as large and so on
until you have a rectangle. When a curved line is drawn from each of the
corners of these squares, it creates the Fibonacci spiral which is pictured
below.
If you apply this
spiral to some of the world’s most beautiful and famous paintings, they all
seem to fit within the format in a certain way. This is seems to link some of
the things we find aesthetically pleasing and has also been
seen in architecture and design. Naturally I went to fleabay and bought myself a golden mean guage and have been merrily measuring the things around me with it. I've measured pictures, bottles and all sorts of things with it, and it's actually eerie how many everyday items fit this mean. Numbers
permeate art as well as music and rhythm it would seem.
Fibonnacci numbers are also seen in nature, in the centre of
sunflowers for example, if you look closely they start from the centre and
spiral outwards, the number of seeds increasing creating the curved lines
outwards which appear to be spiraling, similar to the image above.
The fact that this sequence could be found in so many
different areas of life made me wonder if there could be Fibonacci poetry. As
it happens there is, it is called Fib poetry.
A typical fib is six lines and 20 syllables following the
sequence 1/1/2/3/5/8.
No
Nope
Not me
I won’t be
Any good at maths
That explains my crap poetry.
Why not try a fib poem then post your work below to share
with us, it has to be better than my attempt.