Geometry and plants
Who said that mathematics can not be interesting? Fractals like these may seem too perfect to be true, but they exist in nature. Plants are also examples of geometry and mathematics.
If we look around us, we could imagine that branches, leaves and flowers grow randomly. However, the truth is that the points at which each branch, leaf, stem, bud or petal arise, have been established according to fixed laws and miraculously precise measures. There are patterns everywhere we look in the natural world, one of which is the Fibonacci sequence.
The Fibonacci sequence is so simple it is almost disconcerting. Here each number is created by adding the previous two, so that from 1, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 = 13, 8 + 13 = 21, etc. And so on to infinity. This sequence is so persistent in nature that it is a challenge to find a plant or fruit structure that does not conform to it. For example, the placement of the leaves along a stem is governed by the Fibonacci sequence, ensuring that each leaf has maximum access to sunlight and rain. The same principle is working on the formation of cones of pine, sunflowers, pineapples and cactus.
If we look around us, we could imagine that branches, leaves and flowers grow randomly. However, the truth is that the points at which each branch, leaf, stem, bud or petal arise, have been established according to fixed laws and miraculously precise measures. There are patterns everywhere we look in the natural world, one of which is the Fibonacci sequence.
The Fibonacci sequence is so simple it is almost disconcerting. Here each number is created by adding the previous two, so that from 1, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 = 13, 8 + 13 = 21, etc. And so on to infinity. This sequence is so persistent in nature that it is a challenge to find a plant or fruit structure that does not conform to it. For example, the placement of the leaves along a stem is governed by the Fibonacci sequence, ensuring that each leaf has maximum access to sunlight and rain. The same principle is working on the formation of cones of pine, sunflowers, pineapples and cactus.
Sunflower. The head of the sunflower seed follows Fermat's spiral which is based on the Fibonacci sequence.
Spiral-lobed plant. Due to its surprisingly symmetrical five-pointed spiral, the species is used as an ornamental plant
Crassula Buddha temple. This plant grows up to 6 inches tall and starts branching at different levels from the sides of each column. Its leaves are flat and thin, from silvery gray to grayish green. They are stacked firmly and folded up at the edges, forming a perfectly square column.
“[El universo] está escrito en el lenguaje de las matemáticas y sus caracteres son triángulos, círculos y otras figuras geométricas.”
(Galileo Galilei)
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