There is a special ratio that can be used to describe the proportions of everything from natures smallest building blocks such as atoms,to the most advanced patterns in the universe,such as unimaginably large celestial bodies.
Think of any two numbers. Make a third by adding the first and second,a fourth by adding the second and third and so on.
When you have written down about 20 numbers,calculate the ratio of the last to the second from last. The answer should be close to 1.6180339887...
Whats the significance of this number? Its the "golden ratio" and arguably,it crops up in more places in art,music and so on than any number except pi.
Claude Debussy used it explicitly in his music and Le Corbusier in his architecture. There are claims the number was used by Leonardo da Vinci in the painting of the Mona Lisa by the Greeks in building the Parthenon and by ancient Egyptians in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
The appeal of the divine proportion to the human eye and brain has been scientifically tested. Dozens of psychological tests beginning with those of Gustav Fechner in the 19th century,have shown that when subjects are presented with a range of rectangles they invariably pick out as most pleasing ones whose sides are in the golden ratio.
But the most surprising thing is that a number deemed aesthetically pleasing by human beings also crops up in nature and science. Take the arrangement of leaves on the stem of a plant. As each new leaf grows, it does so at an angle offset from that of the leaf below. The most com mon angle between successive leaves is 137.5 - the golden angle.
Why? Because 137.5 = 360 - 360/G where G is the golden ratio. Why does the golden ratio play a role in the arrangement of leaves? Its all down to the "irrationality" of the number. Irrational numbers are ones that cannot be expressed as the ratio of two whole numbers - for instance: 5/2.
PHI can also be found in many instances of symbology..
The modern pentacle and pentagram are both examples of how PHI is used in modern symbology.
The number is implicit in the pentacle,the five-pointed star representing the sacred feminine,the symbol of the goddess.
Many books on oil painting and water colour suggest that it is better to position objects not in the centre of a picture but to one side or "about one-third" of the way across and to use lines which divide the picture into thirds. This seems to make the arrangement of the picture more aesthetically pleasing. In more detailed analysis it has been found that famous painters used the ratio PHI to improve the layout of their paintings ... for example a width to height ratio of 1.618 or sky to land in a landscape picture.
The Mona Lisa,Leonardo da Vinci is said to have used the Golden Ratio in his works. Mona Lisas face is roughly 1.618 times longer than it is wide.
Both Motzart and Beethoven have used this equation in their musical compesition as well.
This number sequence is seen in all life forms as well,right down to the cellular level.
If you take your height and divide it by the distance from your waist to the floor you get PHI. If you take your arm from the finger tips to shoulder and divide it by the length from the elbow to the finger tips you get PHI.
All snail shells swirl in outward equal measures of PHI.
Makes you wonder how anyone can think the world is the result of random chaos.
Everything is connected .. i dont think its all random .... Somehow people landed here on earth and started to populate it
Adam and Eve were the first two from what i have read and heard over the years
Think of any two numbers. Make a third by adding the first and second,a fourth by adding the second and third and so on.
When you have written down about 20 numbers,calculate the ratio of the last to the second from last. The answer should be close to 1.6180339887...
Whats the significance of this number? Its the "golden ratio" and arguably,it crops up in more places in art,music and so on than any number except pi.
Claude Debussy used it explicitly in his music and Le Corbusier in his architecture. There are claims the number was used by Leonardo da Vinci in the painting of the Mona Lisa by the Greeks in building the Parthenon and by ancient Egyptians in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
The appeal of the divine proportion to the human eye and brain has been scientifically tested. Dozens of psychological tests beginning with those of Gustav Fechner in the 19th century,have shown that when subjects are presented with a range of rectangles they invariably pick out as most pleasing ones whose sides are in the golden ratio.
But the most surprising thing is that a number deemed aesthetically pleasing by human beings also crops up in nature and science. Take the arrangement of leaves on the stem of a plant. As each new leaf grows, it does so at an angle offset from that of the leaf below. The most com mon angle between successive leaves is 137.5 - the golden angle.
Why? Because 137.5 = 360 - 360/G where G is the golden ratio. Why does the golden ratio play a role in the arrangement of leaves? Its all down to the "irrationality" of the number. Irrational numbers are ones that cannot be expressed as the ratio of two whole numbers - for instance: 5/2.
PHI can also be found in many instances of symbology..
The modern pentacle and pentagram are both examples of how PHI is used in modern symbology.
The number is implicit in the pentacle,the five-pointed star representing the sacred feminine,the symbol of the goddess.
Many books on oil painting and water colour suggest that it is better to position objects not in the centre of a picture but to one side or "about one-third" of the way across and to use lines which divide the picture into thirds. This seems to make the arrangement of the picture more aesthetically pleasing. In more detailed analysis it has been found that famous painters used the ratio PHI to improve the layout of their paintings ... for example a width to height ratio of 1.618 or sky to land in a landscape picture.
The Mona Lisa,Leonardo da Vinci is said to have used the Golden Ratio in his works. Mona Lisas face is roughly 1.618 times longer than it is wide.
Both Motzart and Beethoven have used this equation in their musical compesition as well.
This number sequence is seen in all life forms as well,right down to the cellular level.
If you take your height and divide it by the distance from your waist to the floor you get PHI. If you take your arm from the finger tips to shoulder and divide it by the length from the elbow to the finger tips you get PHI.
All snail shells swirl in outward equal measures of PHI.
Makes you wonder how anyone can think the world is the result of random chaos.
Everything is connected .. i dont think its all random .... Somehow people landed here on earth and started to populate it
Adam and Eve were the first two from what i have read and heard over the years
