Leonardo Fibonacci
Leonardo Fibonacci was born in Pisa, Italy
around 1175 to Guilielmo Bonacci.
Leonardo’s father was the secretary of
the Republic of Pisa and directed the
Pisan trading colony. His father
intended on Leonardo becoming a merchant. His
father enlisted him in the
Pisan Republic, sending him to various countries. As
Leonardo continued
to travel with his father, he acquired mathematical skills
while in Bugia.
Fibonacci continued to study throughout his travels, which ended
around the
year 1200. Leonardo began writing books on number theory, practical
problems
of business mathematics, surveying, advanced problems in algebra
and
recreational mathematics. Leonardo’s recreational problems became known
as
story problems and became mental challenges in the 13th century. Of all
the
books he wrote we still have copies of Liber abbaci (1202), Practica
geometriae
(1220), Flos (1225), and Liber Quadratorum. Sadly his books on
commercial
arithmetic Di minor guisa is lost as well as his commentary on
Book X Euclid’s
Elements. One of Leonardo’s contributions to mathematics
was his introducing
the Decimal Number system into Europe. He was one of the
first people to
introduce the Hindu-Arabic number system into Europe.
Fibonacci also introduced
the Decimal Positional System, which originated
from India and Arabia. Fibonacci
wrote story problems in his book, Liber
abbaci. Examples of those problems are,
"A spider climbs so many feet up
a wall each day and slips back a fixed number
each night, how many days does
it take him to climb the wall. These problems
became quite popular. Another
accomplishment was his forming the Fibonacci
Series. It is a series of
number in which each member is the sum of the two
preceding numbers. For
example, a series beginning 0, 1 ... continues as 1, 2,
3, 5, 8, 13, 21,
and so forth. The exact period of this discovery is not known.
Leonardo
was a bright man, but left much of his solutions to his questions or
problems
without explanations. No way for some finding how he arrived at
it.
During Leonardo’s lifetime he was recognized for his efforts and
contributions
to mathematics. In 1225 Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick ll
recognized Leonardo for
his work. In 1240 the Republic of Pisa awarded
Fibonacci a salary for his work
as well. It is not known for sure, but
Leonardo is said to have died sometime
after he received his salary. His many
contributions are well remembered today
by people in the math community.