The Golden Ratio and Phyllotaxis
Phyllotaxy is a topic in biology that is concerned with the arrangement of leaves and petals on
plant stems. More generally, those who study phyllotaxis study the dynamics of how objects
repel each other when restricted to the same body/bulk mass. The ratio of successive terms
of the Fibonacci series approaches the value of φ = 1.618.... If we consider a circle of full
angle 2π, then we may bisect that circle into arcs using a φ : 1 ratio. One arc has angle
γ = 2.3999... radians. This angle, known as the golden angle, is often observed as the angle
between successive leaves or petals on plants. To investigate why, it is interesting to consider
a non-biological example.