I have been interested in mathematics since kindergarten. I always loved searching for and finding patterns in sequences of numbers. I used to read whatever information I could in order to learn more about the wonders of math. In fifth grade I was part of my school’s program for gifted math students. There the teacher introduced me to a wonderful sequence of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence, named after the 13th century mathematician Leonardo da Pisa Fibonacci. She gave me a list of the first 80 or so numbers in the sequence. My first impression was an amazement at how large these numbers seemed to get, and so quickly. She showed me how the sequence was formed: each term was the sum of the two previous terms beginning with 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, …. She showed me how the sequence showed up in the turns of a pinecone and a sunflower Read More

• Mathematics