[FOM] Logic and Fibonacci

[William Tait]

John,

The connection is probably with Matiyasevich's proof that Hilbert's 
tenth problem cannot be solved. The sequence in question was the first 
example of a Diophantine relation of exponential growth. See M's book 
_Hilbert's Tenth Problem_. Kreisel used to say---I'm sure many times--- 
that since Fibonacci invented the series to measure the rate of growth 
of a population of rabbits, it should have been selfevident that it is 
exponential.

Bill Tait

On Jan 8, 2004, at 5:36 PM, John T. Baldwin wrote:

> In, Algebra in Ancient and Modern Times,  V.S. Varadarajan writes on 
> page 50:
>
> They (Fibonocci numbers) remained as curiousities till in the 1960's 
> they were found to be crucial in certain
> studies in mathematical logic.
>
> Does any know what he is referring to?
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