Lesson 1 – Patterns and Numbers in Nature and the World

PATTERN – Anything that REPEATS with recurring characteristics or a SERIES of a regular or consistent
arrangement according to a specific rule or SEQUENCE.

Types of Natural Patterns

1. Symmetry. There is symmetry if an imaginary line is drawn across an object, the resulting parts
are mirrors of each other.

2. Spiral. It is a curved pattern that focuses on a center point and a series of circular shapes that
revolve around it. This is common in plants and some animals.

3. Meander is a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of
a river, stream, or other watercourses. It is produced by a stream or river swinging from side to
side as it flows across its floodplain or shifts its channel within a valley.

4. Cracks are linear openings that form in materials to relieve stress. The pattern of cracks
indicates whether the material is elastic or not.

5. Stripes is a line or band that differs in color or tone from an adjacent area. This may be seen in
various living things, especially animals.

Notes:

 Some patterns cannot be seen because they are already parts of human experience like, for
example, the water cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. With this knowledge,
people were able to understand the world better and make intuitive decisions to improve the
ability to forecast weather, climate, water resources, and the ecosystem's health.
 Regardless of the purpose by which natural patterns served, such as for camouflage, for
adaptation to the environment, or they are caused by natural phenomena, all of them are
considered to be closely related to mathematics.

Other Types of Patterns

1. Logical Patterns – In solving problems in logical reasoning, you have to look for patterns or rules and
identify which object does follow those patterns or rules.

To identify logic patterns, you have to look out four (4) things, namely:

(1) rotating shapes

(2) increase and decrease in numbers of shapes or patterns
(3) alternating patterns, colors, and shapes
(4) mirror images or reflections

 Relative Positional Rule: This is how the black square is positioned inside each box.
  Movement Rule: This pertains to how the square moves in each box, in the clockwise direction.
2. Geometric Patterns – are a collection of shapes, repeating, or altered to create a cohesive design.
They appear in paintings, drawings, tapestries, wallpapers, tiling, and carpets.

Examples of Geometric Patterns:

a. Tessellations - repeating patterns of polygons that cover a plane with no gaps or overlaps.
Some examples are the honeycombs made by honey bees and scales of fish. It may be a regular
tessellation (composed of regular polygons symmetrically tiling the plane), semi-regular
tessellation (made of two or more regular polygons), or demi-regular tessellation (or
polymorph).
The 8 semi-regular tessellation

b. Fractals – are mathematical constructions characterized

by self-similarity. Two objects are self-similar if they can be turned into the same shape by
stretching or shrinking (and sometimes rotating). They are some of the most beautiful and most
bizarre objects in all of mathematics. Some famous fractals are the Sierpinski Triangle, Pascal's
Triangle, Koch Snowflake, and Fractal Tree.
i. The Sierpinski triangle begins as an equilateral triangle. The recursive procedure is to
replace the triangle with three smaller congruent equilateral triangles such that each
smaller triangle shares a vertex with the large triangle.

ii. The Pascal's Triangle contains the numerical coefficients of binomial expansions. The
triangle below shows the coefficients of (x + y )0 up to
15
( x + y ) . In Pascal's triangle, the Sierpinski triangle can
also be drawn by connecting or shading the odd numbers.
 iii. Fractal Tree - In making a fractal tree, start at some point
and move a certain distance in a particular direction. At
that point, make a branch (two branches in this example).
Turn some angle to the right (and left) and then repeat the
previous step using a shorter distance. Then, do the same
in making the succeeding branches.

Koch Snowflake – In drawing a Koch Snowflake, one needs to start by drawing an equilateral
triangle. Then, divide each side into three equal parts. After that, draw an equilateral triangle on each
middle part. Then, divide each outer side into thirds and again, draw an equilateral triangle, but draw on
each middle part.

3. Word Patterns –
The metrical
patterns of poems and the syntactic patterns of making nouns plural or verbs past tense are both
word patterns. Each supports mathematical and natural language understanding. Patterns can also
be found in languages like morphological rules and metrical rules in poetry.

Examples of Word Patterns:

a. An analogy compares two different things, but they do it by breaking them into parts to see how
they are related. The colons stand for words; single colon reads as is to, double colon reads as.

Analogy How to read

mother: home:: teacher: school mother is to home as a teacher is to school

black: white:: out: in black is to white as out is to in

obese: fat:: slender: thin obese is to fat as slender is to thin

b. Rhyme Scheme is the rhymes' pattern at the line of a poem or song (often in nursery rhymes). It
is typically referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the
same letter all rhyme with each other.
 A Haiku may be considered as a pattern concerning words. It is a Japanese poem with 17
syllables divided into three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Clouds murmur darkly, 5

it is a blinding habit— 7
gazing at the moon. 5
4. Number Patterns – is a list of numbers that follow a particular sequence or order.
Types of Number Patterns:
a. Arithmetic Sequence – the difference between two consecutive terms is called the common
difference.

b. Geometric Sequence – is a sequence where a term is multiplied by a constant, called the

common ratio, to get the next term.

Other types of number patterns:

a. Triangular Numbers: The terms of a triangular sequence are related to the number of dots
needed to create a triangle.
 b. Square Numbers: In a square number sequence, the terms are the squares of their position. A
square sequence would begin with "1, 4, 9, 16, 25…"

c. Cube Numbers: In a cube number sequence, the terms are the cubes of their position.
Therefore, a cube sequence starts with "1, 8, 27, 64, 125…"
d. Fibonacci Numbers.Each number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers that precede
it. So, the sequence goes: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on.

Lesson 2 – The Fibonacci Sequence

Leonardo Pisano or Leonardo of Pisa

- he was born in Pisa, Italy, in 1170.

- He popularized the Hindu-Arabic numeral system or decimal system in Europe. He advocated
the use of the digits 0 to 9 and of the place values.
- He is popularly known as Fibonacci, a shortened word for the Latin term "fillius Bonacci," which
means "son of Bonacci" because his father was Guglielmo Bonaccio.
- He discovered one of the famous formulas in mathematics, the FIBONACCI SEQUENCE. The
breeding of rabbits led to his discovery of the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence.

Where Can You Find the Fibonacci Sequence?

The Fibonacci sequence application can be seen in nature, on phenomena, on the human body,
and in photographs.
Fibonacci Sequence in Nature

 In the number of petals of flowers

Many flowers follow the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence about the number of petals they
possess naturally.
 In the number of sections in fruits
When we observe fruits, we may notice that their number of sections is in the Fibonacci
sequence.
The Fibonacci Spiral
Using the first ten (10) numbers in the Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 as dimensions of
adjacent squares, you can create a Fibonacci spiral. When arranged in a certain way, the Fibonacci
sequence creates a special spiral pattern.
How to create a Fibonacci spiral

1. In creating a Fibonacci spiral, begin by drawing two 1 x 1

squares. Draw a 2 x 2 square using the sides of the rectangle
formed by the first two squares. Draw a 3 x 3 square using the
sides of the second rectangle formed. You will notice that the sides of the squares are Fibonacci
numbers. Continue drawing squares using the Fibonacci numbers as sides of the squares.

2. In creating a spiral-like shape, draw curves in the squares

beginning with the 1 x 1 squares.

Examples:

 Nautilus shell
 photographs of
storms, specifically hurricanes, and tornadoes
 sunflower seeds
 Fibonacci numbers are present on the spirals that appear
on the skin of pineapples and pine cones
 some parts in the body

Lesson 3 – The Golden Ratio

The symbol of the golden ratio is the Greek letter "phi" – Ф (uppercase letter) or φ (lowercase
letter). It is named after the Greek sculptor Phidias. It is an irrational number approximately equal to
1.618. The Golden Ratio is also equal to

φ=
√5+ 1 and φ = 2 ( S ∈54 ° ).
2

 The Golden Ratio is also known as Divine Ratio or Divine Proportion.

The Golden Ratio Derived from the Fibonacci Sequence

There are ways to derive the approximate value of the Golden Ratio, such as
1. by using the golden sections, a and b of a line segment where

and is considered as the golden ratio.

2. from the so-called "continued fraction."

Application
Many artists and architects apply the Golden Ratio in their artworks and creative designs, believing that
their works would be more pleasing and beautiful.
  The Golden Spiral
The Fibonacci spiral, as mentioned in the previous lesson, is
constructed using the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. The
Fibonacci spiral is also known as the Golden Spiral.
Many artists who lived after Phidias have used the Golden
Rectangle and the Golden Ratio like Leonardo Da Vinci in his painting
"Mona Lisa."

 The Golden Rectangle is a rectangle whose sides are

in the proportion of the Golden Ratio. This may be
observed in notable architectural structures dating
back to ancient times as well as art.

Temples like the Parthenon in Greece are believed to

have the Golden Ratio in them.

 Proportions of the human body, such as the face, follows the Divine Proportion. The closer the
body parts' proportion is to the Golden Ratio, the more aesthetic and beautiful the body is.