Sam Bellavance's picture book post

 Sarah C. Campbell’s Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature is a wonderfully illustrates the existence of the famous Fibonacci sequence in our natural surroundings. The story begins with the description of a simple pattern; 1+1=2, 2+1=3, 3+2=5, etc.  2, 3, 5, etc. are examples of Fibonacci numbers, and are shown to manifest themselves quite colorfully in the number petals on several species of flowers.  Any number in the sequence is derived by finding the sum of the two previous numbers in the sequence. The book then gives a brief description of Fibonacci, an Italian who is credited with being the first European to write extensively about these sequences.  The story concludes by visually representing the occurrence of Fibonacci sequences in nature

Besides their unusually frequent occurrences in nature, the numbers that comprise the Fibonacci sequence are a great example of an exponential function.  Because each number in the sequence is increasing, the intervals between said numbers is also increasing, thus giving rise to the graph pictured below. The Fibonacci sequence is also a great illustration of a function. The sequence is typically displayed as:  Although this function is fairly simple, it’s a great way for people to see the how sequences we perceive to be simple patterns can be conveyed using function notation.

Without literature, math loses an important ally in the effort to teach sometimes complex concepts to those of us who are not “number-inclined”.  One of the most upsetting things I notice at AU is the refrain from some students, “I just don’t do math, and I’m just not a numbers person.” This sentiment is probably the result of that student sitting through a high school math class and either not understanding the material, or even worse (in my opinion) not understanding the relevance of that material. This is especially troubling considering math is probably the most relevant subject in all of academia.  Yet it’s often taught as though it arises from some separate world where only number crunchers and math geeks have a proper grasp on what’s going on.  By using literature to teach math, we begin to break down those artificial barriers and start relating math to wider audience. Now that student I described earlier can begin to learn mathematical concepts, but on terms they’re familiar with. Lastly, I would add that making math more accessible to the non-numbers crowd serves us all, because society will be in a lot of trouble its full of people who “just don’t do math”.