The answer to last week's question came in two parts: the next number in the sequence is 21. You find the next number by adding the two previous numbers together so 8 + 13 = 21. The sequence is named after, but was not discovered by, an Italian mathematician named Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Fibonacci. He is said to have set himself the following puzzle: how many rabbits will you have after a year if you start with a male and female and the female has two babies every month?
Another important contribution Fibonacci was able to make was the idea of decimal numbers, the numbers we all use today, instead of the Roman numeral system which was in use in Europe in his lifetime. He knew of the decimal system because of his background in the Islamic countries of North Africa. So, the next time you do some maths in class, remember to thank Fibonacci as well as the Arab and Indian mathematicians who came before him. Without them we'd all be adding like this:
LXXXVII + MCMXC =MMDXXVII !!!
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