Page 78 - SCCTM 2018 Conference Program
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Change the World of Mathematics
Sow a Seed
Sunflowers are more than just beautiful – they’re also a
mathematical marvel because there’s an amazing connection
between sunflowers and math. When you look at the edge of a
sunflower's seed head, you can usually spot two set of spirals,
one running clockwise and the other going counter clockwise.
When you count how many spirals there are in each set, you'll
find two consecutive numbers from the famous Fibonacci
sequence. The sequence starts with a 1 followed by a 2, and all
other terms are made by adding the two preceding ones: 1, 2, 3,
5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, ...
Sunflower seeds and amazing math. When you stop to think
about this, it reminds your that nature is truly mind-blowing: The
Mind-blowing Math of Sunflowers
