Solve This!

Hi my name is Leonard Bonacci, but you might know me by the name of Fibonacci. I was born in Pisa in the year of 1170. I was born in Pisa but I was educated in North Africa where my father, Guilielmo Bonacci, held a diplomatic post. My father's job was to represent the merchants of the Republic of Pisa who were trading in Bugia.

I was taught mathematics in Bugia and I traveled widely with my father. I ended my travels in the year 1200 and at the same time I returned to Pisa. There I wrote a number of important texts that played an important role in reviving the ancient mathematical skills.

I wrote my own books about mathematics but we didn’t have computers back in my day, so my books were handwritten. The museums stole copies of my books, they stole Liber abaci, Practica geomitriae, Flos and Liber quadratorum. My book, Practica geomitriae, was eight chapters filled with problems about Euclid’s Elements.

I convinced Europe to stop using Roman numerals and start using Arabic numerals, namely 1,2,3,... Just as we use today. I was the first mathematician that discovered a sequence that was named after me. I discovered the Fibonacci sequence in a rabbit pair problem. Later on other people discovered there were topics that tied in with my sequence. For example it is hidden in the Pascal triangle. This is easier to see if the Pascal triangle is left justified.

Click here to see the Pascal triangle shifted to the left.

Click here to test your knowledge of Fibonacci.