Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Idea Behind It: Golden Ratio
The Idea Behind It: Golden Ratio
The Idea Behind It: Golden Ratio
is also equal to
92.3
7.70
=
12.04
100
92.3
=
1.083
Try to make
these the same.
= Landscape
100
92.3
Note: only first few digits are shown
Beauty
This rectangle has been made using the Golden Ratio, Looks like a typical frame
for a painting, doesn't it?
Some artists and architects believe the Golden Ratio makes the most pleasing
and beautiful shape.
Many buildings and artworks have the Golden Ratio in them, such as the
Parthenon in Greece, but it is not really known if it was designed that way.
1.61803398874989484820... (etc.)
The digits just keep on going, with no pattern. In fact the Golden Ratio is known
to be an Irrational Number , and I will tell you more about it later.
Calculating It
You can calculate it yourself by starting with any number and following these
steps:
With a calculator, just keep pressing "1/x", "+", "1", "=", around and around. I
started with 2 and got this:
2 1/2=0.5 0.5+1=1.5
1/1.625 =
1.625 0.6154... + 1 = 1.6154...
0.6154...
1.6154..
.
But it takes a long time to get even close, but there are better ways and it can
be calculated to thousands of decimal places quite quickly.
Drawing It
Then you can extend the square to be a rectangle with the Golden Ratio.
The Formula
That rectangle above shows us a simple formula for the Golden Ratio.
Interesting fact: the Golden Ratio is also equal to 2 × sin(54°), get your
calculator and check!
Fibonacci Sequence
There is a special relationship between the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci
Sequence :
And here is a surprise: when we take any two successive (one after the
other) Fibonacci Numbers, their ratio is very close to the Golden Ratio.
In fact, the bigger the pair of Fibonacci Numbers, the closer the approximation.
Let us try a few:
A B B/A
2 3 1.5
3 5 1.666666666...
5 8 1.6
8 13 1.625
We don't even have to start with 2 and 3, here I chose 192 and 16 (and got
the sequence 192, 16, 208, 224, 432, 656, 1088, 1744, 2832, 4576, 7408,
11984, 19392, 31376, ...):
A B B/A
192 16 0.08333333...
16 208 13
Pentagram
No, not witchcraft! The pentagram is more famous as a magical or holy symbol.
And it has the Golden Ratio in it:
a/b = 1.618...
b/c = 1.618...
c/d = 1.618...
Other Names