The Manchester Science Festival encouraged people to grow sunflowers in order to conduct a massive mathematical experiment. Plant the seeds in April and May, nurture the plants throughout the summer and when the sunflowers are fully grown be counting the number of spirals in the seed patterns in the sunflower heads. Don’t worry – expertise will be on hand to help count the seeds and you’ll be able to post your ‘spiral counts’ online.
The Fibonacci Sequence starts 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34…..
Can you continue it? Can you explain how it works? If you follow the link below you will see how this relates to flowers.
The results of the experiment will be announced during the Manchester Science Festival 2012 (27 Oct – 4 Nov), alongside a host of cultural events connected to Alan Turing’s life and legacy.