Understanding an explanation
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?
The transcript is a bit wrong: it says that Student says, "I'm not sure", while Student actually says, "Not sure", on 1:14.
Hello Katja,
It's quite hard to hear but I think the transcript is correct. Sometimes certain parts of the sentence are pronounced so weakly that they almost disappear, and here it sounds like 'Mmm not sure'. You could interpret it either way, I guess, as Not sure and I'm not sure are both fine responses here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
my last lecture was one week ago at my university, the doctor explained it very well.
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When I was student I had good teachers, specially in math. They always answers about dudes. Actually I don't use math in my diary task and don't practice much. But I like learn and review about math and this exercise was very good to it.
#fibonacci
To be honest, I do not remember having heard about this important mathematician before, maybe because math was not among my favourite subjects. However, the sequence of numbers is very common in different topics even in our times.
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