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

Download
Worksheet101.54 KB

Language level

Average: 4.4 (26 votes)
Do you need to improve your English listening skills?
Join thousands of learners from around the world who are improving their English listening skills with our online courses.

Submitted by TTTTWWW on Thu, 16/02/2023 - 19:20

Permalink

my last lecture was about English. We learned lots of vocabulary but ı have difficulties remembering the sences of words. I think my teacher didn't explain them clearly. She should make more practice on these words. Maybe she can give us some homework about that.

Submitted by Abrarhussain on Tue, 07/02/2023 - 22:02

Permalink

My last lecture was about my English online course. Yes, the professor explained it clearly.

Submitted by lylarv on Tue, 07/02/2023 - 01:11

Permalink

Data Science in education. Yes, as far as i could follow. I had to leave early.

Submitted by student_w on Mon, 23/01/2023 - 09:31

Permalink

My last lecture I attended was in 2010, in my fifth and final year of university. This conference focused on electronic material and the teacher completed the notions included in the class program.

Submitted by Abu23 on Mon, 19/12/2022 - 17:15

Permalink

I did not attend any lecture for the last five years.

Submitted by Eman Samir on Mon, 21/11/2022 - 12:27

Permalink

The last lecture was about ways to have a freelance work. The professor explained it clearly and gave us many practical tips.

Submitted by zo_fia on Wed, 28/09/2022 - 05:12

Permalink

The last lecture I went to was about making a date. My tr is so expert at explaining lessons that I don't need to read again. I'm feeling well on my English learning journey.

Submitted by Nandar Su Hlaing on Sat, 03/09/2022 - 03:17

Permalink

The last lecture I attend was how to read passages and reuse words in our own sentences.Yes, the professor explain the lesson clearly
and I understand well.

Submitted by Siana_if on Sun, 14/08/2022 - 23:52

Permalink

I always listen different lectures on webinars. I don't remember about what was the last one (I shoud listen less). Psyhology or marketing.

Submitted by mamalirezaenglish on Mon, 08/08/2022 - 14:54

Permalink

The last lecture that I went to was about retention marketing.It's the process of of how to retain customers after we acquired them. Our teacher was so good at explaining the topic, because she was a co-founder of retention marketing platform.