The Fibonacci Calculator
By Sergio Marchese, Semiconductor Engineering
The holiday season is all about traditions, and the annual holiday puzzle has become a tradition here at OneSpin. Two years ago, we challenged engineers everywhere to solve the famous Einstein’s Riddle using a formal tool. We received some interesting solutions. Last year, we drew an even bigger response to our invitation to tackle the “World’s Hardest Sudoku.” These puzzles are fun, of course, but the different approaches taken by those submitting solutions also reveal a lot about the power and flexibility of assertions and formal verification.
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This year, we invite everyone to consider the Fibonacci numbers, which make up the Fibonacci sequence. You probably remember this from a math class years ago: the sequence starts with 0 and 1, and then each new Fibonacci number is the sum of the previous two numbers:
https://semiengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Fibonacci-numbers-OneSpin.png
Fibonacci numbers are important in numerous branches of mathematics, but I was drawn to this series as a topic for this year’s puzzle mostly because it occurs in many places in the natural world. Commonly cited examples include the pattern of branches on some trees, the pattern of leaves on stems, and the arrangement of leaves or fruit on certain plants. With some idealized assumptions, generations of honeybees and rabbits may also follow the Fibonacci series.
