Emily Curry

Mysteries of Mathematics

12-10-99

Fibonacci Numbers

            Leonardo Fibonacci was one of the great mathematicians of his time.  His lifestyle allowed him to travel and study math in various countries, and he ended up combining his cultural knowledge to discover the most effective ways of doing mathematics.  He is most famous for his contributions to the European number system and for his sequence of numbers known as the Fibonacci numbers.  Starting with 0 and 1 as the first two numbers, each number in the sequence is the sum of the two preceding numbers.  He came across these numbers as a solution to a problem that he used as an example in one of his many publications.  He was not aware of the importance of his findings at the time.  Many uses have been found for these numbers since Leonardo’s death and many mathematicians have used this sequence in their own theories.

            Leonardo Fibonacci was born in Pisa, Italy in the middle 1170’s.  When he was almost twenty, he moved to Bugia, Algeria with his father, Guielmo Bonacci.  Bonacci was the secretary of the Republic of Pisa responsible for directing the Pisan trading colony in Bugia.  When he brought his son to Algeria, he had Leonardo educated to become a merchant.  During his studies in northern Africa, Fibonacci discovered the Hindu-Arabic number system, which he had not been exposed to in Europe.  When his father arranged for him to work for the Pisan republic, Leonardo took advantage of his business trips to countries such as Greece, Sicily, Egypt and Provence. He studied the methods of mathematics that were practiced in these various nations.  He discovered that the Hindu-Arabic numerals were much more effective and easier to manipulate than the Roman numeral system used in Italy.