History of Phi, the Golden Ratio

While the proportion known as the Golden Mean has always existed in mathematics and in the physical universe, it is unknown exactly when it was first discovered and applied by mankind. It is reasonable to assume that it has perhaps been discovered and rediscovered throughout history, which explains why it goes under several names.

Uses in architecture date to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks

It appears that the Egyptians may have used both pi and phi in the design of the Great Pyramids. The Greeks based the design of the Parthenon on this proportion. Phidias (500 BC - 432 BC), a Greek sculptor and mathematician, studied phi and applied it to the design of sculptures for the Parthenon. Plato (circa 428 BC - 347 BC), in his views on natural science and cosmology presented in his "Timaeus," considered the golden section to be the most binding of all mathematical relationships and the key to the physics of the cosmos. Euclid (365 BC - 300 BC), in "Elements," referred to dividing a line at the 0.6180399... point as "dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio." This later gave rise to the use of the term mean in the golden mean. He also linked this number to the construction of a pentagram.

The Fibonacci Series was discovered around 1200 AD

Leonardo Fibonacci, an Italian born in 1175 AD (2) discovered the unusual properties of the numerical series that now bears his name, but it's not certain that he even realized its connection to phi and the Golden Mean. His most notable contribution to mathematics was a work known as Liber Abaci, which became a pivotal influence in adoption by the Europeans of the Arabic decimal system of counting over Roman numerals. (3)

It was first called the "Divine Proportion" in the 1500's

Da Vinci provided illustrations for a dissertation published by Luca Pacioli in 1509 entitled "De Divina Proportione" (1), perhaps the earliest reference in literature to another of its names, the "Divine Proportion." This book contains drawings made by Leonardo da Vinci of the five Platonic solids. It was probably da Vinci who first called it the "sectio aurea," which is Latin for golden section. The Renaissance artists used the Golden Mean extensively in their paintings and sculptures to achieve balance and beauty. Leonardo Da Vinci, for instance, used it to define all the fundamental proportions of his painting of "The Last Supper," from the dimensions of the table at which Christ

and the disciples sat to the proportions of the walls and windows in the background. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), discoverer of the elliptical nature of the orbits of the planets around the sun, also made mention of the "Divine Proportion," saying this about it: "Geometry has two great treasures: one is the theorem of Pythagoras; the other, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel."

The term "Phi" was not used until the 1900's

It wasn't until the 1900's that American mathematician Mark Barr used the Greek letter phi to designate this proportion. By this time this ubiquitous proportion was known as the golden mean, golden section and golden ratio as well as the Divine proportion. Phi is the first letter of Phidias (1), who used the golden ratio in his sculptures, as well as the Greek equivalent to the letter "F," the first letter of Fibonacci. Phi is also the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet, and 21 is one of numbers in the Fibonacci series. The character for phi also has some interesting theological implications.

Recent appearances of Phi in math and physics

Phi continues to open new doors in our understanding of life and the universe. It appeared in Roger Penrose's discovery in the 1970's of "Penrose Tiles," which first allowed surfaces to be tiled in five-fold symmetry. It appeared again in the 1980's in quasi-crystals, a newly discovered form of matter.

Phi as a door to understanding life

The description of this proportion as Golden and Divine is fitting perhaps because it is seen by many to open the door to a deeper understanding of beauty and spirituality in life. That's an incredible role for a single number to play, but then again this one number has played an incredible role in human history and in the universe at large.

Theology
Is there meaning hidden in Phi, the symbol for the Golden Number?
The use of the Greek letter Phi Phi to represent the golden number 1.618 ... is generally said to acknowledge Phidias, a 5th century B.C. sculptor and mathematician of ancient Greece, who studied phi and created sculptures for the Parthenon and Olympus. The message from scripture of all the major monotheistic religions is that God is One, Who created the universe from nothing, splitting nothingness into offsetting forces and elements. Today we understand the universe to consist of positive and

negative atomic and subatomic particles and charges, matter and anti-matter, all coming from a singularity in what we term the "Big Bang." Curiously, the mathematical constant of 1.618 ... that is found throughout creation is represented by the symbol Phi, which is the symbol 0 for nothing split in two by the symbol 1 for unity and one. Could this be the true meaning behind the symbol Phi? (Oddly enough, to type Phi on your computer, you hold the Alt key and enter 1000 on the number pad, an interesting "alt"ernate look at 1 with a trinity of 0's!)

O
Nothing

l
Unity / God Nothing split by Unity is Phi, the constant of creation

Note: This original insight by the site author was added on 3/15/2003.
Adding Unity to nothingness produces the Fibonacci series, which converges on Phi
Now ADD God to the void, or Unity to Nothing. In other words, add 0 plus 1 to get 1, and then follow this pattern to the Infinite. This is the Fibonacci series. The ratio of each number in the series to the one before it converges on Phi as you move towards infinity,

Number in the series

l 2

13

...

Ratio of each number in the series to the previous number in the series

l 2 l.5 l.66... l.600 l.625 ...

The Golden Proportion is analogous to God's relationship to creation

The Golden Section, or Phi, found throughout nature, also applies in understanding the relationship of God to Creation. In the golden section, we see that there is

only one way to divide a line so that its parts are in proportion to, or in the image of, the whole: The ratio of the larger section (B) to the whole line (A) is the same as the ratio as the smaller section (C) to the large section (B):

Only "tri-viding" the whole preserves the relationship to the whole

And so it is with our understanding of God, that we are created in His image. Not by dividing the whole, but only by tri-viding the whole does each piece retain its unique relationship to the whole. Only here do we see three that are two that are one. The Book of John begins with these words that capture the essence of this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus, in John 14:9, expressed a similar thought: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Here the human Jesus (the Son of Man) is to the divine Jesus (the Son of God) as the divine Jesus (the Son of God) is to God (the Father or whole). Insight on the relationship of Christ to God as analogous to the golden section contributed by Steve McIntosh.

The Golden Section as a universal constant of design

The teachings of most religions express the thought that part of God is within each of us and that we are created in His image. The pervasive appearance of phi throughout life and the universe is believed by some to be the signature of God, a universal constant of design used to assure the beauty and unity of His creation.

Quotes related to Phi

"Geometry has two great treasures: one is the Theorem of Pythagoras; the other, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a

measure of gold; the second we may name a precious jewel." --Johannes Kepler "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." --Einstein, Albert (1879-1955), What I Believe. "When one sees eternity in things that pass away, then one has pure knowledge." --BHAGAVAD GITA "Without mathematics there is no art." --Luca Pacioli "Like God, the Divine Proportion is always similar to itself." --Fra Luca Pacioli "The good, of course, is always beautiful, and the beautiful never lacks proportion." --Plato "Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so." --Galilei, Galileo (1564 - 1642), Quoted in H. Weyl "Mathematics and the Laws of Nature" in I Gordon and S. Sorkin (eds.) The Armchair Science Reader, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959. "[The universe] cannot be read until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word." --Galilei, Galileo (1564 - 1642), Opere Il Saggiatore p. 171. "The human mind has first to construct forms, independently, before we can find them in things." --Einstein, Albert (1879-1955) "Nature hides her secrets because of her essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse." --Einstein, Albert (1879-1955) "Where there is matter, there is geometry." --Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630), (Ubi materia, ibi geometria.) J. Koenderink Solid Shape, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 1990 "Mathematics seems to endow one with something like a new sense." --Darwin, Charles, In N. Rose (ed.) Mathematical Maxims and Minims, Raleigh NC: Rome Press Inc., 1988.

The History of the Golden Ratio

Phi (Golden Ratio) as a mysterious number has been discovered in many places, such as art, architectures, humans, and plants. You might wonder where and when Phi first appeared? Who was the discoverer? According the history of mathematics, Phi was first understood and used by the ancient mathematicians in Egypt, two to three thousand years ago, due to its frequent appearance in Geometry. Phidias (500BC-432 BC), a Greek sculptor and mathematician, studied Phi and used the Phi in many designs of his sculptures, such as the statue of the goddess Athena in Athena, and the state of god Zeus in Olympiad. And Euclid Alexandria (365BC-300BC) had once described the Phi as "dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio" in his Book VI of Elements. The name "Golden Ratio" appears in the form sectio aurea (Golden Section in Greek) by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) who used this the Golden ratio in many of his masterpieces, such as The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. In 1900s, an Maerican mathematician named Mark Barr, represented the Golden Ratio by using a greek symbol .