Mathematics Education (Signadou)
Cracking the "Real" da Vinci Code:
Mathematics and Beauty
Suppose a newly-born pair of rabbits, one male, one female, is put in a field. Rabbits are able to mate at the age of one month, so that at the end of the second month a female can produce another pair of rabbits. Suppose that our rabbits never die and that the female always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on.
How many pairs will there be at the end of one year?
The da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, has topped the international best-seller list for more than a year. It has captured the popular imagination to a surprising extent. The book follows the adventures of a couple thrown together as they attempt to untangle a series of coded symbols and messages, many concealed within great works of art, literature, mathematics and architecture (especially those centred around the work of Leonardo da Vinci). The ultimate prize - concealed throughout history - the truth about the Holy Grail!
The book is a work of fiction, although based on some elements of fact and legend. The central theme suggests that hidden knowledge has been handed down through the ages to those who are initiates of arcane mysteries.
While the actual da Vinci Code may be a fiction, it exposes a fundamental truth, linked not to religion but to the arcane mysteries of mathematics. This knowledge has been known to initiates since at least the time of Pythagoras (6th Century BC) and has featured, just as in the novel, in great works of art and architecture. Significantly, it may be found in nature, in the human form - and some places you would not believe!
The "real" da Vinci Code is concealed all around you and, once discovered, may change your view of the world forever!
Room 206 Phone 02 62091142
Stephen Mark
ARNOLD