13 is a Unique Fibonacci Number

TUCSON, AZ, January 01, 2011 (Press-News.org) Fibonacci numbers are named after a mathematician in the 1200s who discovered them. Simply, you get a sequence of numbers by adding the preceding two adjacent numbers to get the next number. The sequence starts with two 1s. To get the third number, you add the two 1s and you get 2. To get the fourth number, add 2 and 1 and you get 3. The sequence goes on and a sampling of the list is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233 and so on. The uniqueness of this set of numbers is that they are found in nature like in the diagonal patterns of the pineapple and the inside of a daisy. 13 is unique of all of the numbers in that it is the seventh natural number in this set and the sixth unique number in the sequence. As you can see, 6 plus 7 equals 13. This is the only number in the sequence that this math operation can be used.

Some people start the Fibonacci numbers with zero and would say that this uniqueness doesn't apply since all the numbers would be shifted to the right one and 13 would be the eighth number in the sequence. Surprisingly, this argument leads to the even more unusual uniqueness of 13 in this series. If one says zero must be a part of the Fibonacci numbers then why not keep going in the other direction. Why stop at zero? If you do this then you get a sequence of numbers that resemble the original sequence which is ...233, -144, 89, -55, 34, -21, 13, -8, 5, -3, 2, -1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21... The most unusual thing here is that there are 13 numbers between the two 13s. Truly, 13 has a special place in this sequence and possibly in nature.

Michael Dow, discoverer of this fact, is an author and has written on subjects dealing with weight management, finances, leadership, family, parenting and synergy. Visit www.DowCreativeEnterprises.com for more info.

Dow Creative Enterprises, LLC is a book and website publishing company. For further information, please email mdow@dowcreativeenterprises.com.