How is math a part of nature? Gracyn K

Introduction Math often seems very man made. We learn about math, the history of it, and how it was discovered, but we often don’t make connections to how the math world and the natural world are connected.

Why are they Connected? When you think about it, math had to start from somewhere. The ideas of math had to start with something, and when there was only nature around, math would have to be based off of some natural pattern or something observed a long time ago. From this it makes sense that math and nature would have connections, all the way back to when math was created.

How are they Connected ? Math is connected to nature in many ways. If you think about it right now, I'm sure you can think of something in nature that can relate to math. But there's many more that you may not of realized, and that’s what I'm going to talk about today.

History – Plato

Plato’s theory Some of the earliest theories regarding patterns in nature was in 400BC Plato was a Greek philosopher who spent much of his life studying mathematics and natural patterns He decided that physical copies of ideal forms were never perfect copies, like in mathematics. Something in nature will never be exactly perfect to something in math. So, while I tell you about some of these examples, realize that hardly anything in nature is exactly perfect, but many things in nature follow the patterns that can be described in math.

Fibonacci Sequence

Leonardo Fibonacci He was another big contributor to patterns in nature Came up with Fibonacci sequence which led to the Fibonacci spiral Sequence where each number in the pattern in the sum of the previous two: Leonardo Fibonacci was another big contributor to finding patterns in nature. He came up with the Fibonacci sequence, which also made the Fibonacci spiral. Essentially, in the Fibonacci sequence, each number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two. So the sequence would be 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13 and so on.

Examples of Fibonacci sequence Used the example of rabbit population growth when he introduced his sequence in 1202 (even though it turned out to be unrealistic) Later D'Arcy Thompson published a book on how the Fibonacci sequence can be found in the spirals of plant and animals.  

Fibonacci and golden spiral

How to Construct a Fibonacci Spiral Uses the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence to build a spiral shape Construct a series of squares with side lengths equal to the Fibonacci sequence, then draw a line through the diagonals of each square to make a Fibonacci spiral. Very similar to the Fibonacci spiral is the Golden spiral. The Golden Spiral is from the Golden Ratio, which rounds to around 1.618 and is commonly known as phi.  

The Spirals in Nature

Geometry

Geometry in Nature A lot of geometry relates to math – but they aren’t perfect shapes to the ones in mathematical drawings, just like Plato said, but quite close.

Symmetry Bilateral Radial

Can Everything in Nature be Explained by Math? There are so many mathematical properties out there, that surely something in math must match up to something in nature. Some people even think math was invented to understand patterns in nature. In my project I showed you just a few of these explanations of nature, but there's so much more that you could go on for forever talking about them. Some more examples - throwing a ball in the air makes a parabola. Also in physics, or in the movements of things such as the planets orbiting, all uses math. For these reasons, in my opinion, I think all of nature can be described or explained with math.

Conclusion It’s important to learn the connections between math and nature so that we can learn new things about the world around us, and relate math to things that we see constantly everyday. The great thing about math is its always changing and developing. In a hundred or a thousand years, math will be different from today. Maybe by then, we will discover even more connections between the natural world and mathematics, and more advances in math so that we can discover new things about the world around us.

Bibliography Golden Ratio. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2016, from Math is Fun: http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/golden- ratio.html Grant, S. (2013, April 21). 10 Beautiful Examples of Science in Nature. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from 10 Beautiful Examples of Science in Nature: http://munmathinnature.blogspot.ca/ Joanna, R. a. (2007, April 4). Math in Nature. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from Math in Nature: http://munmathinnature.blogspot.ca/ Lewis, T. (2014, Januray 30). What's the Universe Made Of? Math, Says Scientist. Retrieved December 4, 2016, from LiveScience: read:http://www.livescience.com/42839-the-universe-is-math.html Maths in Nature. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2016, from Maths in Nature: http://www.abc.net.au/science/photos/mathsinnature/photo3.htm Parveen, N. (n.d.). Fibonacci in Nature. Retrieved December 4, 2016, from http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emat6680/parveen/fib_nature.htm Patterns in Nature. (2016, October 19). Retrieved October 23, 2016, from Patterns in Nature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterns_in_nature Tegmark, M. (2014, January 10). Is the Universe Made of Math? Retrieved December 4, 2016, from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-universe-made-of-math-excerpt/ Tyson, P. (2011, October 11). NOVA Describing Nature with Math. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from NOVA Describing Nature with Math: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/describing-nature-math.html