Množina: fibs

ETYM Prob. from fable; cf. Prov. Eng. fibble-fabble nonsense.
A trivial lie; SYN. story, tale, tarradiddle, taradiddle.

ETYM See Fib (n.).
To tell a relatively insignificant lie.

Množina: fibbers

Liar, one who tells fibs

Množina: fibers

ETYM French fibre, Latin fibra.
(Alternate spelling: fibre).
1. A leatherlike material made by compressing layers of paper or cloth; SYN. fibre, vulcanized fiber.
2. A slender and greatly elongated solid substance; SYN. fibre.

Singular of fiber optics is fiber optic.

A technology for the transmission of light beams along optical fibers. A light beam, such as that produced in a laser, can be modulated to carry information. Because light has a higher frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum than other types of radiation, such as radio waves, a single fiber-optic channel can carry significantly more information than most other means of information transmission. Optical fibers are thin strands of glass or other transparent material, with dozens or hundreds of strands housed in a single cable. Optical fibers are essentially immune to electromagnetic interference. See also optical fiber.
The transmission of light signals via glass fibers; SYN. fibre optics.
A transmission medium consisting of thin strands of glass or plastic through which data is sent by means of pulse modulated light waves.
Branch of physics dealing with the transmission of light and images through glass or plastic fibers known as optical fibers.

Množina: fiber-optic cables

A form of cable used in networks that transmits signals optically, rather than electrically as do coaxial and twisted-pair cable. The light-conducting heart of a fiberoptic cable is a fine glass or plastic fiber called the core. This core is surrounded by a refractive layer called the cladding that effectively traps the light and keeps it bouncing along the central fiber. Outside both the core and the cladding is a final layer of plastic or plastic-like material called the coat, or jacket. Fiberoptic cable can transmit clean signals at speeds as high as 2 Gbps. Because it transmits light, not electricity, it is also immune to eavesdropping.
A cable made of optical fibers that can transmit large amounts of information at the speed of light; SYN. fibre optic cable.

Množina: fiberglasses

A covering material made of glass fibers in resins; SYN. fibreglass.
Glass that has been formed into fine fibers, either as long continuous filaments or as a fluffy, short-fibered glass wool.
Fiberglass is heat- and fire-resistant and a good electrical insulator. It has applications in the field of fiber optics and as a strengthener for plastics in GRP (glass-reinforced plastics).
The long filament form is made by forcing molten glass through the holes of a spinneret, and is woven into textiles. Glass wool is made by blowing streams of molten glass in a jet of high-pressure steam, and is used for electrical, sound, and thermal insulation, especially for the roof space in houses.

Also known as Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170-c. 1250) Italian mathematician. He published Liber abaci/The Book of the Calculator in Pisa 1202, which was instrumental in the introduction of Arabic notation into Europe. From 1960, interest increased in Fibonacci numbers, in their simplest form a sequence in which each number is the sum of its two predecessors (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...). They have unusual characteristics with possible applications in botany, psychology, and astronomy (for example, a more exact correspondence than is given by Bode’s law to the distances between the planets and the Sun).
In 1220, Fibonacci published Practica geometriae, in which he used algebraic methods to solve many arithmetical and geometrical problems.
Fibonacci was born in Pisa but learned mathematics in Algeria.
He traveled extensively in the Mediterranean region. Returning to Pisa in about 1200, he began his mathematical writings. In 1225 he won a mathematical tournament in the presence of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II at the court of Pisa. A marble tablet dated 1240 appears to refer to Fibonacci as being awarded an annual pension for his accounting services to the state.
Liber abaci was a thorough treatise on algebraic methods and problems in which he strongly advocated the introduction of the Indo-Arabic numeral system, comprising the figures 1 to 9, and the innovation of the “zephirum”— the figure 0 (zero). Dealing with operations in whole numbers systematically, he also proposed the idea of a bar (solidus) for fractions.

Singular of Fibonacci numbers is Fibonacci number.

In mathematics, an infinite series in which each successive integer is the sum of the two integers that precede it—for example, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, . . . . Fibonacci numbers are named for the thirteenth-century mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa. In computing, Fibonacci numbers are used to speed binary searches by repeatedly dividing a set of data into groups in accordance with successively smaller pairs of numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. For example, a data set of 34 items would be divided into one group of 21 and another of 13. If the item being sought is in the group of 13, the group of 21 is discarded, and the group of 13 is divided into groups of 5 and 8; the search would continue until the item was located. The ratio of two successive terms in the Fibonacci sequence converges on the Golden Ratio, a “magic number” that seems to represent the proportions of an ideal rectangle. The number describes many things, from the curve of a nautilus shell to the proportions of playing cards or, intentionally, the Parthenon, in Athens, Greece. See also binary search.

Množina: Fibonacci searches