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Article: The Fibonacci alphabet.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Word Ways
- Article date:
- August 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Jeremiah Farrell. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233,377, ...) is perhaps the most famous one in mathematics, known for at least 700 years and the subject of a quarterly journal during the last 40. (In the sequence, each term is the sum of the preceding two terms.) It is the purpose of this note to describe in more detail a curious relationship between Fibonacci and the alphabet, brought to the attention of Word Ways readers by Dave Morice in the November 2002 Kickshaws.
Reduce the Fibonacci sequence mod 26--that is, divide each term by 26 and write down the remainder (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 8, 3, 11, 14, 25, 13, ...). No doubt Fibonacci ...