Oh Fiddleheads!
Spotted these Fiddlehead Ferns in the supermarket recently. Such a lovely example of the Fibonacci spiral. These were imported all the way from...Massachusetts. At $8.99 a pound, they are pricey, but oh so tasty with butter!
Nature's Traveling Spiral
A great question to ask kids: “What would happen if snails didn’t have spiral-shaped shells?” Remember: Spirals are nature’s way of growing compactly, of keeping a uniform, manageable shape even as the living object continues to grow. If a snail’s shell didn’t coil into a Fibonacci spiral as the snail grew, the little critter would end up dragging something resembling a long, ungainly horn after him, instead of the quite elegant dwelling it possesses!
My wife snapped this little fellow a few years ago while we were living abroad, so he is actually an Italian snail, or “chiocciola.” (Say “KEY-oh-cho-la”).
Interestingly, the Italians use the same word, chiocciola, to describe the typographical symbol at the heart of every e-mail address: @
Can you guess why?
Spirals You Carry With You
Make a fist. Ta-da! You just made a spiral. That’s right; your fingers curl up into a lovely spiral every time you clench your fist. And you carry two other spirals on either side of your head: your ears!
Fun activity for kids: Take photos of their ears and fists, print them out, and have them use a pencil to trace the spiral shape right on the photo.
Small Is Beautiful
This little guy fell out of some herbs we harvested. You can’t tell it from the photo, but he’s less than an inch long. Yet his spiral is so beautifully formed and the close-up photo on the blog shows a perfect set of ridges etched into his shell. Gorgeous! I doubt that his shape conforms to the mathematical requirements of a Fibonacci spiral. But who cares?
Green, Peppery Math
Dinner the other night called for two green peppers, which revealed Fibonacci numbers upon closer inspection. Notice: Whether you’re looking at them from the top or bottom, you can easily pick out their three- and five-lobed shapes. I have spotted four-lobed peppers, too, but they don’t strike me as being as common as the threes and fives. If I come across one, I’ll be sure to post it.
If you liked this post, check out the others in the series:
Fibonacci in the Garden, Take 1
Fibonacci in the Garden, Take 2
Learn more about my Fibonacci book for kids here.
BUY BLOCKHEAD: THE LIFE OF FIBONACCI
hardcover: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | Books-A-Million |
autographed: Malaprop’s
Leonardo Pisano, aka Fibonacci, was one of the greatest mathematicians Europe ever produced. He lived in the Middle Ages. But modern mathematicians never read his work because he wrote in Latin. Latin scholars know nothing about math. And mathematicians don’t read Latin. So while you can go to a bookstore and find tons of classical literature translated from the original Greek and Latin, you are unlikely to find the translated works of Fibonacci, who wrote at least five texts in his lifetime that have survived to our time.
If his work was going to be made accessible to 20th and 21st century researchers, someone would have to translate his work into a modern language. Portions of his output had been translated over the centuries, but a fresh translation would bring his work to greater audiences. That person turned out to be…
I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in my professional life writing articles about the mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci. Most of those pieces were for math magazines aimed at kids. (I was working at Scholastic when I sold my children’s book about Fibonacci.) Then, many years ago, when I was living in Italy, I wrote about Fibonacci for a short-lived daily newsletter on Italian life and culture.
Both the editor and I were astonished by the response that that tiny story. Either people had never heard of Fibonacci, the Sequence, or the Numbers. Or they knew the name from the world of investing, but did not know about Leonardo himself. That taught me a lesson: Fibonacci’s story is amazing enough to interest adults as well.
A few years ago I wrote a long post about Fibonacci books…for kids, grownups, and serious math geeks. That post ended up being very long, and I now think it makes more sense to split it up.
To that end, here’s my current recommendations for books for kids about Leonardo Fibonacci and the famous Fibonacci Sequence that bears his name. The list begins with books teachers and homeschoolers can use to the teach the Sequence. Then it moves on to books that will appeal to kids…
I have a post up on SleuthSayers today, which is the day after Thanksgiving here in the United States. Since it’s been a busy week, I’m repurposing a post I wrote back in 2010 for another site. I’ve always liked this article, and I’m glad to have reclaimed it and updated it slightly for a new audience. Here’s how it opens:
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States. But if you happen to be an American mathematician, yesterday was more than just turkey and families. It was Fibonacci Day, so named because the month and date—in American notation, anyway—expressed the first four digits in the famous number sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3. (Oh, to have been alive on 11/23/58!) To talk about that, I’m repurposing an article I wrote years ago for a website that has since gone dark.
When I meet math teachers at schools or conferences, they assume that I am a lifelong math lover since my picture book is about Leonardo of Pisa, namesake of the Fibonacci Sequence. I should come clean. Math teachers, here’s what I’ve been ashamed to confess: When I was a kid, there was no subject I feared more than math.
I compiled a list of fun facts about this brilliant mathematician after reading two biographies. The oddest little things stayed with me, and here they are…
