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Chromotron t1_jegd1bw wrote

Reply to comment by CautiousCold8392 in ELI5-What is the fibonacci sequence? by amsdys

I did not say there are none, only that almost all of them are random and won't be there in another of the same species of object.

> A nice illustration of the pattern is how seeds are distributed in sunflowers.

That is literally what I mentioned as the only potentially correct occurrence!

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CautiousCold8392 t1_jeggbab wrote

It's nice to know that we are in agreement. It is true to say that the Fibonacci sequence may not account for the unpredictability of natural processes.

Other examples exist that may resemble the sequence. The spiral pattern on a ram's horns often resembles the golden ratio. As the pinecone grows bigger and you count the spiral in each direction, the ratio gets closer to the golden ratio.

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lolcatuser t1_jeghh0t wrote

It's inaccurate to call that "the golden ratio" when it's not. If a plant has a logarithmic spiral with a factor of 1.4-1.8 then you shouldn't call it the same as a spiral of (1+sqrt(5))/2, for a lot of reasons - first, there's too much variance; second, there's no way to really prove whether it's the golden ratio or some other number. Suppose there is a slightly different number, say, (2+sqrt(8))/3, which is similar (~1.6 and ~1.6) yet entirely different - is it not just as possible that this is the magic number of life rather than the golden ratio?

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