About Fibonacci
The name Fibonacci is a regular fixture in virtually any modern work of fiction that deals with math or numerology. Despite the prominence of his name and the sequence of numbers named for him, the man himself remains an obscure figure. Few people know that his real name was Leonardo of Pisa, or that he actually invented very little new math himself. Instead, his main contribution was the research and packaging of Arabic and Indian mathematical ideas and their dissemination to medieval Europe.
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Personal History
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Leonardo of Pisa was born in Pisa, Italy sometime in 1170. His mother died when he was nine. His popular name of Fibonacci was actually his nickname, and is a derivative of the Latin "filius Bonacci," or son of Bonacci. His father, in turn, was actually named Guglielmo, but was nicknamed Bonaccio, or "good natured." Leonardo's father was the director of a Pisan trading post in Algiers, and it was from here that Leonardo traveled around the Mediterranean, studying under Arab mathematicians. His accomplishments led him to become a fixture in the court of the German Emperor Frederick II.
Liber Abaci
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Leonardo's main accomplishment was his book, "Liber Abaci." From his boyhood, Leonardo had acquired an early exposure to the Hindustani-Arabic numeral system, and deemed it superior to the Roman numeral system that was at that time still in use in Europe. This is what led him to study with Arab mathematicians, which eventually led to the writing and publication of the "Liber Abaci" in 1202. This work advocated the adoption of the Hindustani-Arabic numerical system, and demonstrated its practicality in practical applications, such as the calculation of interest and the conversion of weights and measures.
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The Fibonacci Sequence
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The Fibonacci Sequence is a grouping of numbers. The first two are 0 and 1, and all subsequent numbers are the sums of the two numbers preceding it. The start of the Fibonacci Sequence looks like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233. The other property of this sequence is that taking any two numbers in it and dividing them by each other yields the Golden Ratio. The rounded-off version of this is either 1:1.618 or 0.618:1. The higher up the list one goes, the closer the result of the division is to the Ratio. The Golden Ratio itself is a mathematical pattern found widely in nature.
The Fibonacci Sequence had actually been well known to Indian science for centuries. Fibonacci was not its inventor, but merely the man who introduced the concept to Europe.
Fibonacci in Popular Culture
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Fibonnaci's impact in popular culture began centuries ago, as the Golden Ratio became something of a fad with Renaissance artists. Many of the great works of art from the period deliberately incorporate those proportions into their work, as much for intellectual as for aesthetic reasons. In modern times, most works of fiction involving numerology or antiquarian mathematics mention Fibonacci. Prominent examples include Darren Aronofsky's film "Pi" and Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code."
Other Books
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Beyond "Liber Abaci," Leonardo of Pisa also wrote "Practica Geometriae," "Flos," Liber Quadratorum," "Di Minor Guisa," and "Commentary on Book X of Euclid's Elements." Of these works, the last two are lost, with no known copies or fragments remaining to modern researchers.
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Resources
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