1
General Science / Why Do I Have 5 Digits?
« on: 19/04/2019 17:40:45 »
Are the number of digits on a hand/foot related to our deep genetic past?
Does it go all the way back to plants?”
I realise I am probably seeing a correlation and picking examples that match my theory.
This came about from the classic observation about sunflowers/pine cones that seeds form in spirals with consecutive Fibonacci numbers and that bone structures in the arm/leg seem to follow a similar sequence (1 bone in upper arm, 2 in lower arm, 3 (missing) 5 digits). This also seems to follow in other animals (EG star fish = 5, octopus = 8, insects = (6 legs + 2 Antennae)??, spiders = . I’d like to look at things like jelly fish to see if the sequence continues there.
I can make a case for plants creating leaves (and as flowers are modified leaves by extension flowers and therefore seeds) in a Fibonacci series as follows:
1 – A plant tries to maximise the area of leaves to get as much energy from the sun
2 – Leaves should not overlap as the shade would reduce the energy in the shaded areas
3 – Assuming a rosette plant, the leaves should divide the circle in the most irrational way (that is if the leaves divide the circle in two, the third leaf would shade the first and there is a large amount of the circle not covered in leaves)
4 – The most irrational number is PHI. That is it is the number that is least well approximated by a fraction. This means that a plant should put it’s leaves out with an ange of 360/PHI degrees (about 222 or 138 degrees). At least looking at my Venus flytrap, it seems to be about right.
5 – Dividing consecutive Fibonacci numbers gives an approximation to PHI
So this gives a reason for plant systems forming Fibonacci sequences, Is this the same reason for Fibonacci sequences appearing in the animal systems?
It would mean that animals split from plants after this sequencing is baked into the genes which would mean it was after plants were developed enough to form leaves, so I think it’s a bit of a stretch so I wonder if there is something else going on?
Does it go all the way back to plants?”
I realise I am probably seeing a correlation and picking examples that match my theory.
This came about from the classic observation about sunflowers/pine cones that seeds form in spirals with consecutive Fibonacci numbers and that bone structures in the arm/leg seem to follow a similar sequence (1 bone in upper arm, 2 in lower arm, 3 (missing) 5 digits). This also seems to follow in other animals (EG star fish = 5, octopus = 8, insects = (6 legs + 2 Antennae)??, spiders = . I’d like to look at things like jelly fish to see if the sequence continues there.
I can make a case for plants creating leaves (and as flowers are modified leaves by extension flowers and therefore seeds) in a Fibonacci series as follows:
1 – A plant tries to maximise the area of leaves to get as much energy from the sun
2 – Leaves should not overlap as the shade would reduce the energy in the shaded areas
3 – Assuming a rosette plant, the leaves should divide the circle in the most irrational way (that is if the leaves divide the circle in two, the third leaf would shade the first and there is a large amount of the circle not covered in leaves)
4 – The most irrational number is PHI. That is it is the number that is least well approximated by a fraction. This means that a plant should put it’s leaves out with an ange of 360/PHI degrees (about 222 or 138 degrees). At least looking at my Venus flytrap, it seems to be about right.
5 – Dividing consecutive Fibonacci numbers gives an approximation to PHI
So this gives a reason for plant systems forming Fibonacci sequences, Is this the same reason for Fibonacci sequences appearing in the animal systems?
It would mean that animals split from plants after this sequencing is baked into the genes which would mean it was after plants were developed enough to form leaves, so I think it’s a bit of a stretch so I wonder if there is something else going on?