Understanding an explanation

Understanding an explanation

Listen to a professor's explanation to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Professor: OK, before we continue, does anybody have a question? Oh, lots of questions, I see. OK, we'll go one at a time. Yes?

Student: Thank you. You talked about Fibonacci numbers in the lecture. Sorry, I don't understand. Can you explain?

Professor: Of course. What do you want to know?

Student: OK … I hope this isn't a silly question, but what does Fibonacci actually mean?

Professor: No question is ever silly – it's always good to ask. OK, it's the name of a person. Fibonacci was a European mathematician in the Middle Ages.

Student: Ah, OK. Thanks. So, we know he was a person, but what are the Fibonacci numbers? I don't get it.

Professor: The Fibonacci numbers are a sequence of numbers. They go 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on. Do you see the sequence? Do you see how it works?

Student: I'm not sure.

Professor: OK. This is how it works. The first number is 1, then 1 again, then 2. The third number is the first number plus the second number. The fourth number is the second number plus the third number: 1 plus 2 is 3. The fifth number is the third number, 2, plus the fourth number, 3. So the fifth number in a Fibonacci sequence is 5.

Student: Ah! I think I understand now. But what about their importance? You said these were very important.

Professor: Yes, let me explain. This sequence of numbers is important because we see it in many things. Fibonacci numbers are common in geometry, they are common in nature, for example in plants. We see the sequence everywhere.

Student: Could you give us some more examples?

Professor: OK ... well, we don't have time right now but I can bring more examples in for next class, OK?

Discussion

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Average: 4.5 (31 votes)

Submitted by Fatemeh.Najafzadeh on Sat, 23/05/2020 - 01:32

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The last lecture that I had was online lecture with my lovely English tutor about keeping safe against coronavirus. she explained it clearly and the meeting was so helpful and informative for me.

Submitted by mouna99 on Mon, 18/05/2020 - 16:46

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The last lecture I went to was about mass spectrometry, and unfortunately my professor did'nt explain it clearly

Submitted by Mann Mann on Tue, 12/05/2020 - 06:15

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My last lecture was awesome.It’s Great. I learned about microeconomics.Our professor explained clearly.But it is not sure to attend the class due to Corona virus. I wish my class was opened early .

Submitted by S.S on Mon, 20/04/2020 - 17:02

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The last lecture that is online is Japanese history lesson today.My teacher explained old burial mound.

Submitted by Lauracastanos on Thu, 16/04/2020 - 01:09

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Yes, last time was in my university.
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Submitted by OlaIELTS on Fri, 10/04/2020 - 16:52

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The last lecture I attended was in form of seminar, its about 'Career'. Yes, he did.

Submitted by ademyonet on Thu, 09/04/2020 - 17:22

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The last lecture I went about was history of Islam. The lecturer explained it very fluency. I learned that I don't know many things about history of Islam. The Islam wasn't like that Europeans told us.

Submitted by Moath AlHithami on Tue, 07/04/2020 - 18:07

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The last lecture I went to about the marketing by Dr. W.H, it was clearly.

Submitted by Daudau0601 on Sat, 04/04/2020 - 03:18

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the last lecture you went to about is solutions subject. I think is not clear because of covid19, we have to learning on online. We sometimes don't hear what teacher says

Submitted by Austin on Mon, 23/03/2020 - 16:30

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The last lecture I went to about is Leadership class in IFT, the professor explained so well, he indicated all the aspect of leadership will have and taught us some skills to become a successful leader.