GOLDEN RATIO:

BRIEF H ISTORY AND BODY

PROPORTION
No one knows for certain when or where the Golden Ratio originally appeared
in civilization. The Great Pyramid of Giza, outside Cairo, Egypt, is the oldest
example that has been discovered. The largest and oldest of the three pyramids
in the Giza Necropolis, this one was built around 2560 BCE. Hemiunu, the
pyramid's architect, may have employed dimensions that generate the golden
ratio for the structure's aesthetic beauty, but it might also have been a result of
chance. Nobody can be absolutely certain.
 Archaeologists have researched everything
there is to know about this pyramid over the
years, including the measurements of its
outer dimensions. When it comes to the
dimensions, these experts discovered that
the golden ratio is the ratio of the pyramid's
slant height to half of its base.

The next appearance of this marvelous ratio in

history is in the works of Phidias, the Greek sculptor
who designed the Parthenon in Athens in the 5th
century BCE. The Golden Ratio is claimed to be
reflected in his architectural design and the
sculptures that accompany it. The Parthenon "fits
beautifully into a golden rectangle that is, a
rectangle where the quotient of the sides is the
golden ratio," according to Posamentier & Lehmann
 The aesthetically attractive Golden Ratio is
also reflected in the iconic Zeus statue there.
Furthermore, because it is the first letter of
Feidiaz, which is the Greek name "Phidias,"
the ratio's numerical representation, 1.618..., is
usually represented by the Greek letter F (Phi)
Plato and his associates sparked interest in the Golden
Ratio, which led to the first definition. The Elements, a
thirteen-volume collection of what the world knew about
math at the time, contains the earliest written reference to
it. Euclid, a Greek mathematician, compiled this collection
of knowledge around 300 BCE (Posamentier & Lehmann,
2012). Euclid provides the first documented explanation of
how to find the Golden Ratio in one of these volumes. He
defines a line segment as one in which the ratio of the
entire segment to the bigger portion is the same as the ratio
of the larger portion to the smaller portion.
 This is known as the "extreme and mean ratio" of a segment, and if this form of proportional
division can be demonstrated on any segment, the Golden Ratio has been discovered (Livio, 2002).
This explanation was used by Euclid to demonstrate how the ratio could be found inside numerous
geometric structures, including pentagons and the five Platonic solids (Bentley, 2008).
Fibonacci was the next in line of persons who made history with the Golden Ratio. This
mathematician was instrumental in the adoption of the Arabic decimal system in Europe, which
replaced the usage of Roman numerals. He found the Fibonacci sequence, an unusual set of
numbers that is now called after him; he may not have recognized that his sequence of numbers was
related to Phi. Phi is an irrational number, which means it has no value when divided by two whole
numbers. Fibonacci's sequence of whole numbers comes the closest to reaching this. As the series
progresses, the ratio of each word to the one before it approaches Phi Fibonacci's series of whole
numbers, according to Bentley, "acts like a lamp that slowly lights more and more of phi." We see
more of the true value of phi as the numbers in the sequence get greater.
Leonardo da Vinci created the iconic Vitruvian Man, a drawing of
a man's body with measurements that match the Golden Ratio, in
1487. In two overlaid postures, the male figure's arms and legs
are drawn apart. The ratio is demonstrated by dividing the
distance from the top of the man's head to the navel by the
distance from the navel to the soles of his feet, yielding.0656,
which is near to f. (.618). The Vitruvian Man is painted within a
circle and a square that are parallel at one point near the bottom
of the painting, which is interesting. Da Vinci would have
achieved the Golden Ratio if the square's upper vertices had
been closer to or tangent to the circle. In any case, the drawing is
significant in terms of Phi since it was widely regarded as a
milestone in terms of portraying ideal human proportions. Fra
Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan priest and mathematician, wrote a
three-volume book in which Da Vinci contributed. The two
mathematicians used the Golden Ratio to investigate and draw
constructions of the five Platonic solids. As an ordained
Franciscan friar, and one who had studied theology, Pacioli
entitled the work The Divine Proportion, because he believed that
the properties of this special number were related to and
expressions of certain characteristics of God; therefore, the ratio
should be known as the Divine
The golden ratio is supposed to be at the heart of many of the proportions in the human body.
These include the shape of the perfect face and also the ratio of the height of the navel to the
height of the body. Indeed, it is claimed that just about every proportion of the perfect human
face has a link to the golden ratio. None of this, though, is even close to the truth. There are
multiple possible ratios in the human body, many of which fall between 1 and 2. If you
consider enough of them, you'll end up with figures that are near to the golden ratio's value
(around 1.618). This is especially true if the things you're measuring aren't well-defined (as in
the image on the left), and you can change the definition to acquire the proportions you want.
If you look closely enough, you can find human body proportions that are near to 1.6, 5/3, 3/2,
the square root of 2, 42/26, and so on. In fact, most integers between 1 and 2 will be
represented in ratio by two body parts. Similar incorrect patterns can be found throughout the
solar system (which also has lots of different ratios that you can choose from). Also keep in
mind that because the golden ratio is an irrational number, it will never be exactly reproduced
in any measurement. All of this is an example of the way that the human brain finds spurious
correlations. Indeed given enough data it is possible to find patterns that agree with almost
any hypothesis. A good way to see this is to go outside on a nice sunny day and look at the
clouds