Fibonacci sequence

Posted by Fred on January 20, 2005

In Reply to: Fibonacci sequence posted by Ward on January 20, 2005

: : In today's New York Times M. Dowd claims that Condoleeza Rice does not appreciate the Fibonacci sequence. She says 'When you invade a country, you should expect an insurgency. Or, as Fibonacci might have calculated it, if you kill one jihadist, two more arrive to take his place; if you kill three, five more pop up; if you get five, eight more appear; and so on.'
: : But does Dowd appreciate the sequence? Shouldn't 'If you get five, eight more appear' be replaced with 'If you get eight, thirteen more appear; if you get twenty one ....'?

: The Fibonacci sequence is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13......(add the last two to get the next). This sequence is wonderful for describing a number of naturally occurring arrangements like sea shell shapes, flowers, leaves and petal arrangements.
: I can't think of a reason why it should apply to the issue suggested.

Ward -- Dowd seems to be suggesting incorrectly that the Fibonacci sequence proceeds as follows: ... 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 8, .... Part of what I take Dowd to be saying is that the growth of the Fib. seq. is dramatic as is the growth of terrorism in Iraq. Various non-Fib. sequences would have done the job for her. But she recognizes the Fib. sequence was popularized in the Da Vinci Code book.