The Golden Ratio: Phi, 1.618

The Golden Section / Golden Ratio

GoldenNumber.Net explores the appearance of Phi, 1.618 (also known as the Golden Ratio, Golden Mean, Golden Section or Divine Proportion, in mathematics, geometrylife and the universe and shows you how to apply it, and its applications are limitless:

The Golden Section is a ratio based on a the number Phi, 1.618…

The Golden Section or Ratio is is a ratio or proportion defined by the number Phi (= 1.618033988749895… )

It can be derived with a number of geometric constructions, each of which divides a line segment at the unique point where:

the ratio of the whole line (A) to the large segment (B)

is the same as

the ratio of the large segment (B) to the small segment (C).

In other words, A is to B as B is to C.

This occurs only where A is 1.618 … times B and B is 1.618 … times C.


This ratio has been used by mankind for centuries

Its use may have started as early as with the Egyptians in the design of the pyramids,

 

The Greeks recognized it as
“dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio”
The Renaissance artists
knew it as the
Divine Proportion
and used it for beauty
and balance in the
design of architecture,
perhaps as early as the Parthenon
and used it for beauty
and balance in the
design of art

 

It appears in the design of Notre Dame in Paris

and continues today in many examples of art, architecture and design.

It also appears in the physical proportions of the human body, movements in the stock market and many other aspects of life and the universe.

Dr. Stephen Marquardt has discovered a template for human beauty using the Golden Section, with obvious relevance in the plastic surgery industry. Marquardt’s analysis takes ethnicity into account, and illustrates variations that are are both numerous and subtle.

See the other sections and pages of this site listed above and to the right for a broad sampling of the many appearances and applications of the golden ratio.

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