Leonardo Pisano

Born: 1170 in (probably) Pisa (now in Italy)
Died: 1250 in (possibly) Pisa (now in Italy)

Leonardo Pisano is better known by his nickname Fibonacci --- filius Bonacci.

Leonardo Pisano was born around 1175 in what is now Pisa, Italy. His nickname, Fibonacci*, means "filius Bonacci" or "son of Bonacci".

 His father, Guilielmo Bonacci, was a diplomat representing the Republic of Pisa in Bugia, a Mediterranean port in Northeastern Algeria. Fibonacci traveled extensively with his father and he was educated in North Africa. Through his travels, Fibonacci was exposed to many different arithmetic systems, but he saw particular advantages to the Hindu-Arabic numerals and decimal positional system.

  After returning to Pisa, Fibonacci wrote several books: Liber abbaci (1202), Practica geometriae (1220), Flos (1225), Liber quadratorium (1225) and A letter to Master Theodorus (~1225). Unfortunately, some of Fibonacci's works have been lost. (His books were all hand-written and so, very few copies were ever produced.) 
    

Liber abbaci, meaning "Book of the Abacus" or "Book of Calculating", contains arithmetic and algebra that Leonardo learned during his travels.  Through this book, Fibonacci introduced our current algorismic system of Arabic numerals and place-value to much of Europe. In addition, the book contains a series of mathematical problems through which he presented a numerical series that is now referred to as the Fibonacci numbers.
  

Fibonacci was one of the greatest mathematicians of the 12th and 13th centuries. He made significant contributions to mathematics through his own discoveries, and was instrumental in the revival of mathematical learning in Europe following the Dark Ages.

Educated in North Africa. Known for spreading the use of the Hindu-Arabic numerals Texts: Liber abbaci (1202), Practica geometriae (1220), Flos (1225), and Liber quadratorum (1225). and his rabbit problem.

"A certain man put a pair of rabbits in a place surrounded on all sides by a wall. How many pairs of rabbits can be produced from that pair in a year if it is supposed that every month each pair begets a new pair which from the second month on becomes productive? "

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