In an exciting story that proves the Fibonacci sequence is everywhere if we only look, 25-year-old Lee Tan was texting her friend – Marcus Dalhousy – when a day-late reply led to a two-day late reply, which then lead to a three-day-late reply, and onward through the sequence.
Wow! Math is all around us!
“When we first reconnected and started the conversation, each of us were texting back instantaneously,” Lee told reporters gathered at the scene. “Honestly, it was a lot of effort, and I was hoping it wouldn’t last long. So once he took a day to reply to my last text, I knew the game was on.”
The two old friends had a nice conversation that culminated in them making plans to “hang out some time in the future,” but as soon as the specifics got involved, the response times took an immediate hit.
“The truth is, neither of us really wanted to meet up in person, and that much was pretty clear,” Marcus added. “But we were getting dangerously close to making concrete plans. Luckily the Fibonacci sequence came in clutch.”
After Marcus took a full day to respond, starting with, “OMG I’m so sorry! I didn’t see this!” Lee knew the game was on. She then had the justification to wait another day before responding, “No worries at all! Any plans this weekend?”
Sources confirm this was the perfect response, as once Marcus took the necessary two days to respond, the weekend would be over, just as Lee predicted.
“Shoot! It happened again,” Marcus began two days later as per the unspoken social contract. “Next week? Xoxo!”
Lee was then justified in waiting three days to respond to that text, at which point it was clear the two were never actually going to meet. A five-day late response led to an eight-day late response, and before long, weeks were passing between messages.
“It’s a great way to get out of plans that neither of you are particularly excited about,” Lee continued. “Because no one is actually upset. You’re each justified in replying later and later, and eventually, someone just drops the conversation altogether, much to the joy of both parties.”
As of press time, Lee and Marcus had allowed months to pass by between their messages when Lee made a pivotal mistake. On a caffeine high, she accidentally started typing right after Marcus sent a message, which meant an instantaneous conversation would inevitably ensue. Both were devastated that all their progress had been lost.
