Isadora the Counting Cat: No Mistakes Here!

When I began talking about the topic of “mistakes” a few posts ago, I introduced you to Nora the Piano Cat. I’d now like you to meet … Isadora the Counting Cat!

OK, Izzy, show ‘em what you can do:

1, 2, 3, 5

Oops! Heh heh … er, sorry about that, folks. Um, Izzy, I think you left something out. Why not just pick up from there and keep going?

8,13,21,34,55

Well, there seems to be something happening here but I don’t know what it is – she was doing it fine this morning. Wait – what’s that, Izzy?

Google "Fibonacci."

OK, whatever you say.

Ah! I get it now. You were counting out a Fibonacci Sequence, in which each number in the chain is the sum of the prior two numbers. That’s pretty good for someone whose vocabulary a couple of days ago consisted of “meow.”

And what have we learned from this?

Hmm … well, I suppose I should’ve practiced what I was preaching a few days ago about weaving “mistakes” into the larger pattern. Instead of just glomming on to your first four numbers and finding an error, I ought to have stepped back, taken the long view, and let the whole pattern play itself out. Then I would’ve realized that what looked like a discontinuity in the short term was actually a seamless part of the whole cloth.

Brilliant, Chief - I'm impressed.

Thanks … I think. Somehow it seems like there’s an even bigger lesson lurking around here – one I should address in my post tomorrow.

Whatever keeps you off the streets, Chief. I'll stay tuned.