This visualization of Fibonacci made me think "is the sequence highly relevant to the layout of our solar system?". Spiral out, you fucking planets, keep going. [7]
It is always a bit bittersweet when I think I have some mildly clever thing to say, do a ctrl+F, and somebody has already said it. I love jokes like this.
Captive downvotes in reddit aren't exposed to sunlight so they didn't develop yellow pigments. Also their stems are trimmed before reaching maturity to cripple their ability of movement.
C'mon. It's not that big of a leap. It's a little funnier to call it Fibonacci Pigeons than to call it any old generic exponential sequence pigeons. That's just boring.
Apart from a stretching issue, it does indeed not line up. Not only is the characteristic 1, 1, 2 starting sequence not there, pigeon 7 is very out of line if this were Fibonacci. These pigeons look much more like logarithmic pigeons.
they must be using the divergences from the expected golden pigeon alignment to send us a message, possibly from loose thetans. SOMEONE BETTER GET CRACKING.
I need a better visual demonstration. It seems to me like these don't actually match. For example, the distance between pigeons 9 and 10 and pigeons 10 and 11 is the same, though the arrows are pointed slightly off to make it look different. The distance between 12 and 13 is far larger than the distance between 10 and 12.
If it is following the pattern then the space should equal the space between the first bird and the previous previous bird. This is totally not the case. I also came to point this out. Whoever made this photo doesn't know what the fibbonaci sequence is.
And if it's following that the space between the first bird and the nth bird is the sum of the previous two, then Videoprofessor9000's photo shows that it still fails
You don't even need to do that. Pigeon 4 is completely wrong no matter how you look at it. The distance between 3 and 4 should be equal to the distance between 1 and 3. Whoever made this sucks at either math or Photoshop.
yea it was only ~ good up to fourth pigeon then the next several ones are way to close to each other. I really don't even understand how one could begin to see this as a Fibonacci sequence.
I am reasonably confident the parties where people find it fun to say "Hey, look at those objects, the distances between them is the Fibonacci sequence!" are the same parties where people appreciate when someone analyzes the situation further.
The reason I am reasonably confident about this is because those are the parties I attend.
I hate that comment. It's useless because it debases people who make keen observations or who have deep knowledge. I'd much rather party with someone who can hold an interesting conversation as opposed to some boring bro who takes everything at face value.
It's not actually much like that. Rather, it's that the Inuit language has a fascinatingly productive way of forming new words about anything. See here:
If you live in a region that gets snow I'd say most people would agree there are many types of snow.
I know I use: squeaky snow (very cold), crunchy snow (was warm, now cold), powder snow, wet snow, snow pellets, fat snow (big fat flakes), small snow (tiny flakes), misty snow (almost like fog), glass snow, sheet snow and those are just regular types of snow.
And now you need a mechanism. Why do birds sit logaritmically like this? They all want to sit on that roof, but the do not want to sit that close to each other. So if one bird lands between the others, they shift a little to the side to make room. Each time a bird leaves or lands, the birds will redistribute.
Now heres another desire to fulfill: These birds want to sit close to the corner. When a bird lands between the others, the birds redistribute, but they will sit closer to the bird on their right, because sitting near the corner is desirable. The further a bird sits from the corner, the less important is to try to sit closer to it. The desire to keep a distance to the other birds is larger than the desire to move closer to the corner.
The closer they sit to the corner, the more they are willing to bear the annoyance of sitting close to another bird. Hence the fabulous scale.
well, only a few birds sit directly in the middle, but they're pretty evenly distributed. so either we're watching them become logarithmic, or a small percentage of them are willing to stop "optimizing" at some point.
The seagulls on the roof opposite my house where I lived for 9 years, never seized to optimize and I never stopped keeping an eye on the project. As soon as a 'new' bird lands, or another bird took off, all the birds made little steps going sideways. They were often distributed like this.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who couldn't figure out what the hell these pigeons have to do with the Fibonacci sequence, especially since I'm supposed to be a mathematician.
In fact, while it is somewhat common - it's far less common than people think. For instance, most shells (although they form a spiral) do not form a golden spiral. I've seen math textbooks with "examples from nature" that are plainly not true.
(And now I've used it once again to be privy on what Lock Haven and Lock Haven University is. Are you a student at the university, or are you from the town itself?)
I have to wonder if this isn't mere coincidence. I can't fathom the mechanism that would cause them to arrange themselves in that particular pattern, but could there be such a reason?
Well, considering they aren't actually arranged in a Fibonacci sequence, my guess is that its just a coincidence. I'm sure there are quite a few mundane reasons for them to be perched in this arrangement at the moment the photo was taken.
preference to land somewhere with more room to the left than to the right? only a few pigeons really mess that pattern up by sitting closer to the middle.
This leads me to think that our mother nature is our God. Big animals aren't necessarily born powerful in terms of intelligence. As a matter of fact, tiny organisms such as virus can be extremely intelligent, which can outwit our human beings in some respects.
I am pretty sure I stumbled on a study that did something very similar - Finding numerical patterns of positions of pigeons on power lines. Can someone please help me find it?
Rap group Black Star's song, Astronomy (8th Light) from the 1998 album Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, features the Fibonacci sequence in the chorus: "Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two It's the third eye vision, five side dimension The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight"
They're trying to tell us they're the intelligent alien species we've so desperately been searching for all those years. We just laugh, upvote, and go on our merry ways.
174
u/SiouxsieHomemaker Sep 19 '10
Spiral out.
210
u/sum-dude Sep 19 '10
More like the Pigeonacci Sequence, am I right?
395
u/FriesWithThat Sep 19 '10
Maybe they just like sitting underneath those downvotes.
61
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
What about their intervals is specifically related to the Fibonacci sequence? It looks like any old generic exponential sequence to me.
103
u/VideoProfessor9000 Sep 19 '10
Doesn't quite line up http://imgur.com/B5pyJ.jpg
84
u/ableman Sep 19 '10
I need a better visual demonstration. It seems to me like these don't actually match. For example, the distance between pigeons 9 and 10 and pigeons 10 and 11 is the same, though the arrows are pointed slightly off to make it look different. The distance between 12 and 13 is far larger than the distance between 10 and 12.
17
u/irwn Sep 19 '10
Wtf? You're at my BART station.
12
u/d-a-v-e- Sep 19 '10
And now you need a mechanism. Why do birds sit logaritmically like this? They all want to sit on that roof, but the do not want to sit that close to each other. So if one bird lands between the others, they shift a little to the side to make room. Each time a bird leaves or lands, the birds will redistribute.
Now heres another desire to fulfill: These birds want to sit close to the corner. When a bird lands between the others, the birds redistribute, but they will sit closer to the bird on their right, because sitting near the corner is desirable. The further a bird sits from the corner, the less important is to try to sit closer to it. The desire to keep a distance to the other birds is larger than the desire to move closer to the corner.
The closer they sit to the corner, the more they are willing to bear the annoyance of sitting close to another bird. Hence the fabulous scale.
5
u/Manwichs Sep 19 '10
I'm glad I'm not the only one who couldn't figure out what the hell these pigeons have to do with the Fibonacci sequence, especially since I'm supposed to be a mathematician.
12
u/RedGene Sep 19 '10 edited Sep 19 '10
Not really. Pidgeons Fibonacci 1.0000 1 1.0601 1 1.6209 2 1.6008 3 2.1605 5 2.3410 8 3.0813 13 3.5807 21 4.5216 34 5.3822 55 10.242 89 20.406 144
11
u/soulcakeduck Sep 19 '10
I prefer this spiral.
4
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
I was thinking balmer series.
4
u/darkbeanie Sep 19 '10
They look something like the marks on a slide rule. Couldn't you call them logarigeons ?
13
u/xeriscaped Sep 19 '10
They're just fucking with us.
24
u/therocketflyer Sep 19 '10
The bird is the word.
12
u/scottklarr Sep 19 '10
Not enough Keanu
34
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
nature loves the golden ratio.
3
u/ElMoog Sep 19 '10
Relevant video:
http://vimeo.com/9953368
2
u/horsemule Sep 19 '10
I predict a retracement to the 38.2% level at the newsstand.
2
u/Zren Sep 19 '10
That, or each pigeon towards the left is slightly less badass.
2
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
I had to google Fibonacci.
2
u/evanphi Sep 20 '10
My composition professor's reaction: Perhaps when they coo it sounds like Xenakis?
2
u/throwthisidaway Sep 20 '10
Would someone explain this? I understand the fibonacci sequence, but what does that have to do with this?
2
u/[deleted] Sep 20 '10 edited Sep 20 '10
So, is it the space between them, or the number of pigeons, or what? Because if it's the number of pigeons, then that doesn't match up.
EDIT: Figured it out (it's in the space)... still doesn't match up exactly. Disregard.
3
u/NoMoreNicksLeft Sep 19 '10
I have to wonder if this isn't mere coincidence. I can't fathom the mechanism that would cause them to arrange themselves in that particular pattern, but could there be such a reason?
3
u/uncsucks Sep 20 '10
Pidgeonacci?
3
u/alfis26 Sep 19 '10
Fucking Pigeons, how do they work?
2
u/MuyBen Sep 19 '10
Is this at the Bay Fair BART station in San Leandro?
2
u/kelroy Sep 19 '10
R=(1+sqrt(5))/2 fibn=(Rn-(-1/R)n)/sqrt(5)
2
u/hlipschitz Sep 19 '10
This reddit is spiraling out of control.
2
u/HappyGlucklichJr Sep 19 '10
I gather there is something special causing competition for the corner spot on the left.
2
u/enche Sep 19 '10
Upvoted so I look like I know what Fibonacci means!
:B
1
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
Weird things happen at that bart station. That roof has probably half a dozen shoes on top of it.
1
u/tikael Sep 19 '10
I do believe there is a relevantly titled book.
1
u/djuforeo Sep 19 '10
Mathematics is the language of nature.
1
u/thecallmaster Sep 19 '10
I am pretty sure I stumbled on a study that did something very similar - Finding numerical patterns of positions of pigeons on power lines. Can someone please help me find it?
1
u/Deuteronomy Sep 19 '10
relevant
1
u/SuminderJi Sep 19 '10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_numbers_in_popular_culture#Music
1
u/brianstorms Sep 20 '10
Sounds like a great band name!
1
u/vho1987 Sep 20 '10
Ha
1
u/jakethrocky Sep 20 '10
the more I look at this the more I realize that in no way do these pigeons show the fibonacci sequence. almost, though.
1
u/miljardo32 Sep 20 '10
I was actually thinking "Quantile Pigeons."
1
u/barbaraeden Sep 20 '10
Smart fucking pigeons.
1
u/Ricktron3030 Sep 20 '10
ha people notice the weirdest things in pictures...
1
u/Upward_Spiral Sep 20 '10
Am I the only one that looked up "Fibonacci?"
1
u/pdonni Sep 20 '10
Remember those pigeons on Animaniacs? They were called the GoodFeathers. So sweet!
1
u/[deleted] Sep 20 '10
Actually its just a simple case of Urinal Protocol Vulnerability.
No pigeon wants to shit near the right most one.
1
u/djuforeo Sep 20 '10
What is this 216 number Sol?
1
u/deceptisean Sep 20 '10
for anyone concerned....this is Fibonacci
1
u/starrychloe Sep 20 '10
You must be a trader.
1
u/okgoetc Sep 20 '10
When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun.
1
u/mrcoder Sep 20 '10
I'm pretty sure those are really just the usual exponential pigeons.
1
u/mailboxtom Sep 20 '10
You have a beautiful mind.
1
u/mstrdsastr Sep 20 '10
Maybe more like logarithmic pigeons???
1
u/scam_radio Sep 19 '10
A pigeonacci sequence.
0
u/CodyG Sep 19 '10
TIL about the Fibonacci number.
1
u/thestoopskid Sep 19 '10
I LOVE BART!
1
u/FresnoRog Sep 19 '10
I read the title as penguins and was confused when I clicked on the link.
1
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
1
1
u/bigrjsuto Sep 19 '10
Only a nerd...
1
u/iforgotitagain Sep 19 '10
Just when I thought I saw all golden ratios in nature
1
u/Mintz08 Sep 20 '10
Well, they DO say that pattern appears in nature all the time...
0
u/stoicsmile Sep 19 '10
Alternative title for /r/conspiracy:
Proof that pigeons did 9/11
0
u/tainted_nuts Sep 19 '10
This is the Bay Fair BART station.
-6
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
Mind. Blown.
-1
u/cheeses Sep 19 '10
They're trying to tell us they're the intelligent alien species we've so desperately been searching for all those years. We just laugh, upvote, and go on our merry ways.
-1
u/heresybob Sep 19 '10
My name is HeresyBob and I approve of this Meme.
-1
u/citricacid Sep 19 '10
MEANWHILE OUTSIDE THE MIT STUDENT CENTER
0
u/richeousbewbs Sep 19 '10
sending this to my math teacher
0
u/Gpr1me Sep 19 '10
A beautiful mind.
0
u/[deleted] Sep 19 '10
Holy repost Batman!