Friday, March 20, 2020

Fibonacci Sequence Essays

Fibonacci Sequence Essays Fibonacci Sequence Essay Fibonacci Sequence Essay Fibonacci Sequence Fibonacci, also known as the Leonardo of Pisa, born in the early 1770’s AD in Pisa, Italy, has had a huge impact on today’s math, and is used in everyday jobs all over the world. After living with his dad, a North African educator, he discovered these ways of math by traveling along the Mediterranean Coast learning their ways of math. With the inspiration from the â€Å"Hindu-Arabic† numerical system, Fibonacci created the 0-9 number system we still use to this day. One of his most important and interesting discoveries is probably what is known as the Fibonacci sequence. It goes like this: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so on. He discovered this sequence through an experiment on an over population and breeding of rabbits. He then realized that if you add the last two numbers together you get the next one. The Fibonacci sequence can be found almost anywhere including: architecture, economics, music, aesthetics, and most famously known, nature. For example the way seeds are arranged on a sunflower or pinecone, uses the Fibonacci sequence to prevent over crowding. It can also be seen in spiral galaxies, shells, the way water falls on a spider web, and even in your own body. Did you know that if you go from the bone in the tip of your finger to it’s middle it should be two fingernails long, followed by the base at about 5 fingernails, and the final bone goes all the way to about the middle of your palm which is the length of about 8 fingernails? : There are other example of this in your body to such as a DNA strand is 34 by 21 angstroms. Mozart uses it in his world-known sonatas by how many measures he puts in each section of his music. Or on a piano, if you look at the scale, there are 13 keys, 8 are white, and 5 black, which are split into groups of 2 and 3. When it comes to architecture, it’s been used as early as 2,560 BC on the Great Giza Pyramids. Leonardo DaVinci always tried to use this sequence throughout his artwork to, due to its aesthetic appeal. As for economics, some people believe that the stock market follows a sequence like Fibonacci’s but this is still being strongly debated. Yet even today, Fibonacci is known as the greatest European mathematician of the middle ages and will never be forgotten for his math contributions. I believe we are just discovering how many uses there really are for the Fibonacci Sequence, and I’m excited to see how they will evolve and become an even bigger part of our daily lives.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

A Creative Way to Get Paid for Talking

A Creative Way to Get Paid for Talking In a recent Funds for Writers issue, Hope continued her steady mentorship of us writers But, we all cry, how do we get our names out there in the world? How will anybody ever know about the fabulous books we have written if we dont talk to every audience that will have us? I have hit on an easy solution to the event-doesn’t-want-to-pay problem, so I wanted to share it. It started as just an experiment, but was so successful that I have used it half a dozen times since and plan to employ it whenever I have the chance. Many of the groups that invite me are chapters of charitable organizations or civic groups. That means they operate on very tight budgets and dont have the means to pay much of a speakers fee. Im not talking Madeleine Albright or Carly Fiorina –level payments here ($50,000 and $73,000, respectively), but a modest $250 honorarium plus travel expenses. So, instead of an honorarium, I have asked the organizers to buy one book for every attendee at their conferences and programs. I offer to sell the books to the group at deep discount, books that I purchased at an even deeper discount from the publisher. The group can then build the cost of the volume into the registration fee. This is a fairly painless price tag for both the sponsoring organization and the participant, and attendees get to walk away with some pretty substantial swag. To illustrate: I purchase books for $5 each from the publisher. I charge the groups $10 each - still far less than the list price of $28.95. In an audience of fifty people, I can make $250, precisely what I would have earned had I charged an honorarium, and much more than I would have netted from royalties – at $1.20 per book, only $60. And, of course, since royalties depend both on sales and the speed of calculating those sales at the publishing house, those payments arrive in my checking account much more slowly than the check from the host group does. In fact, if I must fly to the speaking gig, I ship the books ahead. The check arrives before I even pack my bags. So, you see, my method yields quicker and greater results. Not bad for a few hours of time. Even better, people have my book in their hands. If they like what they read, they may be more likely to buy my next book, especially when they have had the opportunity to meet the author and discuss the book with her. Isnt that the point of getting out there to speak in the first place? Finally, a bonus: I get the books out of my house! (I know you have cases of books in your closet/attic/basement, too.)