“Maths is everywhere”

I have heard this quote several times throughout my life. I have always known that mathematics is used in day to day life but I did not realise how much math was around us in nature. I did not realise that there was maths in the plants and animals in nature and in the buildings around us.

In a recent input in my Discovering Mathematics module we were looking at how maths and art connected. We looked at the Fibonacci sequence, golden ratio and the golden spiral. Out of these three things I had only heard of the golden spiral before this input. I had heard of the golden ratio prior to this input in relation to photography but I did not know where it came from or the numbers and equation behind it.

The Fibonacci sequence is a sequence of numbers where the next number is the previous two added together. For example, to get the number 3 the numbers before (2+1) are added together. The same is then done again to get the next number 5 using the 3 and the previously used 2. This continues on and on! The sequence starts with the numbers 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,56,90 and so on. This sequence of numbers can be seen in many different places throughout nature including the reproduction of animals.

The Golden Spiral is linked to the Fibonacci sequence as using the numbers of the Fibonacci sequence to draw square boxes linked to each other. Using a protractor, you can then draw a spiral going through all of these boxes. The Golden Spiral can be found in nature in insects’ wings, sea shells and flowers.

This can be linked to Liping Ma’s ideas of having a Profound Understanding of Mathematics.

Connectedness this idea links using mathematics and creating a beautiful piece of artwork with it. This means that you are using basic mathematics procedures to understand the world around us.

Basic Ideas if you do not know the basic mathematic skills of being able to measure, count, work out the next number and using a protractor at certain angles. If you did not have these basic skills in math, then this task of creating the Golden Spiral would have been really difficult. Even though I have these basic mathematic skills I still struggled to see what I was trying to create.

From the Golden Spiral you can work out the Golden Ratio. The Golden Ratio is 1.61803398875. If you take any of the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence and divide the bigger one by the smaller one you will always get close to the Golden Ratio. If I take 34 and 21, the result is 1.61904 which is the Golden Ratio! The Golden Ratio can be found in several buildings throughout history though there is no evidence whether these buildings were built purposely using this ratio. Buildings that are an example of this are Notre Dame, Taj Mahal, the Parthenon in Greece and even the Egyptian Pyramids.
These are all examples of how maths and art link in the real world. This input made me realise how big a part maths plays in our world around us. Prior to starting this module, I knew that we used mathematics a lot in everyday life in areas like cooking and banking but I did not realise how much math was around us in the buildings and animals. I look forward to discovering more ways in which math is in the world around us as I continue through this module.

References

Ma, L. (2010) Knowing and teaching
 elementary mathematics: Teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in china and the United States. Anniversary Edition edn. United Kingdom: Routledge.

The Fibonacci numbers and golden section in nature – 1 (1996) Available at: http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html (Accessed: 3 November 2016).

(No Date) Available at: http://www.goldennumber.net/architecture/ (Accessed: 3 November 2016).