Line segments in the golden ratio

A golden rectangle with longer side a

and shorter side b, when placed
adjacent to a square with sides of
length a, will produce a similar golden
rectangle with longer side a + b and
shorter side a. This illustrates the
relationship .
Golden ratio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the number. For the pop music album, see The Golden Ratio (album). For calendar
dates, see Golden number (time).
In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the
same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. The
figure on the right illustrates the geometric relationship. Expressed
algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b,
where the Greek letter phi ( ) represents the golden ratio. Its value is:
The golden ratio is also called the golden section (Latin: sectio aurea)
or golden mean.
[1][2][3]
Other names include extreme and mean
ratio,
[4]
medial section, divine proportion, divine section (Latin:
sectio divina), golden proportion, golden cut,
[5]
and golden
number.
[6][7][8]
Some twentieth-century artists and architects, including Le Corbusier and
Dal, have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio
especially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the
longer side to the shorter is the golden ratiobelieving this proportion to
be aesthetically pleasing (see Applications and observations below).
Mathematicians since Euclid have studied the properties of the golden
ratio, including its appearance in the dimensions of a regular pentagon
and in a golden rectangle, which can be cut into a square and a smaller
rectangle with the same aspect ratio. The golden ratio has also been used
to analyze the proportions of natural objects as well as man-made
systems such as financial markets, in some cases based on dubious fits to
data.
[9]
Contents
1 Calculation
2 History
2.1 Timeline
3 Applications and observations
3.1 Aesthetics
3.2 Architecture
3.3 Painting
3.4 Book design
3.5 Design
3.6 Music
3.7 Nature
3.8 Optimization
3.9 Perceptual studies
4 Mathematics
4.1 Golden ratio conjugate
4.2 Short proofs of irrationality
4.3 Alternative forms
4.4 Geometry
4.5 Relationship to Fibonacci sequence
4.6 Symmetries
4.7 Other properties
4.8 Decimal expansion
5 Pyramids
5.1 Mathematical pyramids and triangles
5.2 Egyptian pyramids
6 Disputed observations
7 See also
8 References and footnotes
9 Further reading
10 External links
Calculation
Two quantities a and b are said to be in the golden ratio if
One method for finding the value of is to start with the left fraction. Through simplifying the fraction and
substituting in b/a = 1/,
List of numbers Irrational and suspected irrational numbers
(3) 2 3 5
S
e
Binary 1.1001111000110111011...
Decimal 1.6180339887498948482...
Hexadecimal 1.9E3779B97F4A7C15F39...
Continued fraction
Algebraic form
Infinite series
Therefore,
Multiplying by gives
which can be rearranged to
Using the quadratic formula, two solutions are
obtained:
and
Because is the ratio between positive quantities is necessarily positive:
.
History
The golden ratio has fascinated Western intellectuals of diverse interests for at least 2,400 years. According to
Mario Livio:
Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient Greece,
through the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the Renaissance astronomer
Johannes Kepler, to present-day scientific figures such as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose, have spent
endless hours over this simple ratio and its properties. But the fascination with the Golden Ratio is not
confined just to mathematicians. Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and
Mathematician Mark Barr
proposed using the first letter in
the name of Greek sculptor
Phidias, phi, to symbolize the
golden ratio. Usually, the
lowercase form () is used.
Sometimes, the uppercase form
() is used for the reciprocal of
the golden ratio, 1/.
[10]
Michael Maestlin, first to publish a
decimal approximation of the golden
ratio, in 1597
even mystics have pondered and debated the basis of its ubiquity and
appeal. In fact, it is probably fair to say that the Golden Ratio has
inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of
mathematics.
[11]
Ancient Greek mathematicians first studied what we now call the golden
ratio because of its frequent appearance in geometry. The division of a line
into "extreme and mean ratio" (the golden section) is important in the
geometry of regular pentagrams and pentagons. Euclid's Elements (Greek:
) provides the first known written definition of what is now called
the golden ratio: "A straight line is said to have been cut in extreme and
mean ratio when, as the whole line is to the greater segment, so is the
greater to the lesser."
[12]
Euclid explains a construction for cutting
(sectioning) a line "in extreme and mean ratio", i.e., the golden ratio.
[13]
Throughout the Elements, several propositions (theorems in modern
terminology) and their proofs employ the golden ratio.
[14]
The golden ratio is explored in Luca Pacioli's book De divina
proportione of 1509.
The first known approximation of the (inverse) golden ratio by a decimal
fraction, stated as "about 0.6180340", was written in 1597 by Michael
Maestlin of the University of Tbingen in a letter to his former student
Johannes Kepler.
[15]
Since the 20th century, the golden ratio has been represented by the
Greek letter (phi, after Phidias, a sculptor who is said to have
employed it) or less commonly by (tau, the first letter of the ancient
Greek root meaning cut).
[1][16]
Timeline
Timeline according to Priya Hemenway:
[17]
Phidias (490430 BC) made the Parthenon statues that seem to
embody the golden ratio.
Plato (427347 BC), in his Timaeus, describes five possible
regular solids (the Platonic solids: the tetrahedron, cube,
octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron), some of which are
related to the golden ratio.
[18]
Euclid (c. 325c. 265 BC), in his Elements, gave the first recorded definition of the golden ratio, which he
called, as translated into English, "extreme and mean ratio" (Greek: ).
[4]
Fibonacci (11701250) mentioned the numerical series now named after him in his Liber Abaci; the ratio of
sequential elements of the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden ratio asymptotically.
Luca Pacioli (14451517) defines the golden ratio as the "divine proportion" in his Divina Proportione.
Michael Maestlin (15501631) publishes the first known approximation of the (inverse) golden ratio as a
decimal fraction.
Johannes Kepler (15711630) proves that the golden ratio is the limit of the ratio of consecutive Fibonacci
numbers,
[19]
and describes the golden ratio as a "precious jewel": "Geometry has two great treasures: one is
the Theorem of Pythagoras, and 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." These two treasures are
combined in the Kepler triangle.
Charles Bonnet (17201793) points out that in the spiral phyllotaxis of plants going clockwise and counter-
clockwise were frequently two successive Fibonacci series.
Martin Ohm (17921872) is believed to be the first to use the term goldener Schnitt (golden section) to
describe this ratio, in 1835.
[20]
douard Lucas (18421891) gives the numerical sequence now known as the Fibonacci sequence its
present name.
Mark Barr (20th century) suggests the Greek letter phi (), the initial letter of Greek sculptor Phidias's name,
as a symbol for the golden ratio.
[21]
Roger Penrose (b. 1931) discovered in 1974 the Penrose tiling, a pattern that is related to the golden ratio
both in the ratio of areas of its two rhombic tiles and in their relative frequency within the pattern.
[22]
This in
turn led to new discoveries about quasicrystals.
[23]
Applications and observations
Aesthetics
See also: History of aesthetics (pre-20th-century)
De Divina Proportione, a three-volume work by Luca Pacioli, was published in 1509. Pacioli, a Franciscan friar,
was known mostly as a mathematician, but he was also trained and keenly interested in art. De Divina
Proportione explored the mathematics of the golden ratio. Though it is often said that Pacioli advocated the golden
ratio's application to yield pleasing, harmonious proportions, Livio points out that the interpretation has been traced
to an error in 1799, and that Pacioli actually advocated the Vitruvian system of rational proportions.
[1]
Pacioli also
saw Catholic religious significance in the ratio, which led to his work's title. De Divina Proportione contains
illustrations of regular solids by Leonardo da Vinci, Pacioli's longtime friend and collaborator.
Architecture
Many of the proportions of the Parthenon
are alleged to exhibit the golden ratio.
The Parthenon's faade as well as elements of its faade and elsewhere are said by some to be circumscribed by
golden rectangles.
[24]
Other scholars deny that the Greeks had any aesthetic association with golden ratio. For
example, Midhat J. Gazal says, "It was not until Euclid, however,
that the golden ratio's mathematical properties were studied. In the
Elements (308 BC) the Greek mathematician merely regarded that
number as an interesting irrational number, in connection with the
middle and extreme ratios. Its occurrence in regular pentagons and
decagons was duly observed, as well as in the dodecahedron (a
regular polyhedron whose twelve faces are regular pentagons). It is
indeed exemplary that the great Euclid, contrary to generations of
mystics who followed, would soberly treat that number for what it
is, without attaching to it other than its factual properties."
[25]
And
Keith Devlin says, "Certainly, the oft repeated assertion that the
Parthenon in Athens is based on the golden ratio is not supported by
actual measurements. In fact, the entire story about the Greeks and golden ratio seems to be without foundation.
The one thing we know for sure is that Euclid, in his famous textbook Elements, written around 300 BC, showed
how to calculate its value."
[26]
Near-contemporary sources like Vitruvius exclusively discuss proportions that can
be expressed in whole numbers, i.e. commensurate as opposed to irrational proportions.
A 2004 geometrical analysis of earlier research into the Great Mosque of Kairouan reveals a consistent application
of the golden ratio throughout the design, according to Boussora and Mazouz.
[27]
They found ratios close to the
golden ratio in the overall proportion of the plan and in the dimensioning of the prayer space, the court, and the
minaret. The authors note, however, that the areas where ratios close to the golden ratio were found are not part of
the original construction, and theorize that these elements were added in a reconstruction.
The Swiss architect Le Corbusier, famous for his contributions to the modern international style, centered his design
philosophy on systems of harmony and proportion. Le Corbusier's faith in the mathematical order of the universe
was closely bound to the golden ratio and the Fibonacci series, which he described as "rhythms apparent to the eye
and clear in their relations with one another. And these rhythms are at the very root of human activities. They
resound in man by an organic inevitability, the same fine inevitability which causes the tracing out of the Golden
Section by children, old men, savages and the learned."
[28]
Le Corbusier explicitly used the golden ratio in his Modulor system for the scale of architectural proportion. He saw
this system as a continuation of the long tradition of Vitruvius, Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man", the work of
Leon Battista Alberti, and others who used the proportions of the human body to improve the appearance and
function of architecture. In addition to the golden ratio, Le Corbusier based the system on human measurements,
Fibonacci numbers, and the double unit. He took suggestion of the golden ratio in human proportions to an extreme:
he sectioned his model human body's height at the navel with the two sections in golden ratio, then subdivided those
sections in golden ratio at the knees and throat; he used these golden ratio proportions in the Modulor system. Le
Corbusier's 1927 Villa Stein in Garches exemplified the Modulor system's application. The villa's rectangular
ground plan, elevation, and inner structure closely approximate golden rectangles.
[29]
Another Swiss architect, Mario Botta, bases many of his designs on geometric figures. Several private houses he
designed in Switzerland are composed of squares and circles, cubes and cylinders. In a house he designed in
Origlio, the golden ratio is the proportion between the central section and the side sections of the house.
[30]
The drawing of a man's body in a
pentagram suggests relationships to
the golden ratio.
[2]
In a recent book, author Jason Elliot speculated that the golden ratio was used by the designers of the Naqsh-e
Jahan Square and the adjacent Lotfollah mosque.
[31]
Painting
The 16th-century philosopher Heinrich Agrippa drew a man over a
pentagram inside a circle, implying a relationship to the golden ratio.
[2]
Leonardo da Vinci's illustrations of polyhedra in De divina proportione
(On the Divine Proportion) and his views that some bodily proportions
exhibit the golden ratio have led some scholars to speculate that he
incorporated the golden ratio in his paintings.
[32]
But the suggestion that
his Mona Lisa, for example, employs golden ratio proportions, is not
supported by anything in Leonardo's own writings.
[33]
Similarly, although
the Vitruvian Man is often
[34]
shown in connection with the golden ratio,
the proportions of the figure do not actually match it, and the text only
mentions whole number ratios.
[35]
Salvador Dal, influenced by the works of Matila Ghyka,
[36]
explicitly
used the golden ratio in his masterpiece, The Sacrament of the Last
Supper. The dimensions of the canvas are a golden rectangle. A huge
dodecahedron, in perspective so that edges appear in golden ratio to one another, is suspended above and behind
Jesus and dominates the composition.
[1][37]
Mondrian has been said to have used the golden section extensively in his geometrical paintings,
[38]
though other
experts (including critic Yve-Alain Bois) have disputed this claim.
[1]
A statistical study on 565 works of art of different great painters, performed in 1999, found that these artists had
not used the golden ratio in the size of their canvases. The study concluded that the average ratio of the two sides of
the paintings studied is 1.34, with averages for individual artists ranging from 1.04 (Goya) to 1.46 (Bellini).
[39]
On
the other hand, Pablo Tosto listed over 350 works by well-known artists, including more than 100 which have
canvasses with golden rectangle and root-5 proportions, and others with proportions like root-2, 3, 4, and 6.
[40]
Book design
Main article: Canons of page construction
According to Jan Tschichold,
[42]
There was a time when deviations from the truly beautiful page proportions 2:3, 1:3, and the Golden
Section were rare. Many books produced between 1550 and 1770 show these proportions exactly,
to within half a millimeter.
Design
Depiction of the proportions in a
medieval manuscript. According to
Jan Tschichold: "Page proportion 2:3.
Margin proportions 1:1:2:3. Text area
proportioned in the Golden
Section."
[41]
Some sources claim that the golden ratio is commonly used in everyday
design, for example in the shapes of postcards, playing cards, posters,
wide-screen televisions, photographs, light switch plates and
cars.
[43][44][45][46][47]
Music
Ern Lendva analyzes Bla Bartk's works as being based on two
opposing systems, that of the golden ratio and the acoustic scale,
[48]
though other music scholars reject that analysis.
[1]
French composer Erik
Satie used the golden ratio in several of his pieces, including Sonneries
de la Rose+Croix. The golden ratio is also apparent in the organization
of the sections in the music of Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections
in Water), from Images (1st series, 1905), in which "the sequence of
keys is marked out by the intervals 34, 21, 13 and 8, and the main climax
sits at the phi position."
[49]
The musicologist Roy Howat has observed that the formal boundaries of La Mer correspond exactly to the golden
section.
[50]
Trezise finds the intrinsic evidence "remarkable," but cautions that no written or reported evidence
suggests that Debussy consciously sought such proportions.
[51]
Pearl Drums positions the air vents on its Masters Premium models based on the golden ratio. The company claims
that this arrangement improves bass response and has applied for a patent on this innovation.
[52]
Though Heinz Bohlen proposed the non-octave-repeating 833 cents scale based on combination tones, the tuning
features relations based on the golden ratio. As a musical interval the ratio 1.618... is 833.090... cents ( Play ).
[53]
Nature
Adolf Zeising, whose main interests were mathematics and philosophy, found the golden ratio expressed in the
arrangement of branches along the stems of plants and of veins in leaves. He extended his research to the skeletons
of animals and the branchings of their veins and nerves, to the proportions of chemical compounds and the
geometry of crystals, even to the use of proportion in artistic endeavors. In these phenomena he saw the golden
ratio operating as a universal law.
[54][55]
In connection with his scheme for golden-ratio-based human body
proportions, Zeising wrote in 1854 of a universal law "in which is contained the ground-principle of all formative
striving for beauty and completeness in the realms of both nature and art, and which permeates, as a paramount
spiritual ideal, all structures, forms and proportions, whether cosmic or individual, organic or inorganic, acoustic or
optical; which finds its fullest realization, however, in the human form."
[56]
In 2010, the journal Science reported that the golden ratio is present at the atomic scale in the magnetic resonance
of spins in cobalt niobate crystals.
[57]
Since 1991, several researchers have proposed connections between the golden ratio and human genome
DNA.
[58][59][60][61]
A detail of an Aeonium tabuliforme in
Trdgrdsfreningen, Gteborg
However, some have argued that many of the apparent manifestations of the golden ratio in nature, especially in
regard to animal dimensions, are in fact fictitious.
[62]
Optimization
The golden ratio is key to the golden section search.
Perceptual studies
Studies by psychologists, starting with Fechner, have been devised to test the idea that the golden ratio plays a role
in human perception of beauty. While Fechner found a preference for rectangle ratios centered on the golden ratio,
later attempts to carefully test such a hypothesis have been, at best, inconclusive.
[1][63]
Mathematics
Golden ratio conjugate
The negative root of the quadratic equation for (the "conjugate root") is
The absolute value of this quantity ( 0.618) corresponds to the length
ratio taken in reverse order (shorter segment length over longer segment
length, b/a), and is sometimes referred to as the golden ratio
conjugate.
[10]
It is denoted here by the capital Phi ():
Alternatively, can be expressed as
This illustrates the unique property of the golden ratio among positive numbers, that
or its inverse:
If were rational, then it would be
the ratio of sides of a rectangle with
integer sides. But it is also a ratio of
sides, which are also integers, of the
smaller rectangle obtained by deleting
a square. The sequence of decreasing
integer side lengths formed by
deleting squares cannot be continued
indefinitely, so cannot be rational.
This means 0.61803...:1 = 1:1.61803....
Short proofs of irrationality
Contradiction from an expression in lowest terms
Recall that:
the whole is the longer part plus the shorter part;
the whole is to the longer part as the longer part is to the shorter
part.
If we call the whole n and the longer part m, then the second statement
above becomes
n is to m as m is to n m,
or, algebraically
To say that is rational means that is a fraction n/m where n and m
are integers. We may take n/m to be in lowest terms and n and m to be
positive. But if n/m is in lowest terms, then the identity labeled (*) above
says m/(n m) is in still lower terms. That is a contradiction that follows from the assumption that is rational.
Derivation from irrationality of 5
Another short proofperhaps more commonly knownof the irrationality of the golden ratio makes use of the
closure of rational numbers under addition and multiplication. If is rational, then is
also rational, which is a contradiction if it is already known that the square root of a non-square natural number is
irrational.
Alternative forms
The formula = 1 + 1/ can be expanded recursively to obtain a continued fraction for the golden ratio:
[64]
Approximations to the reciprocal
golden ratio by finite continued
fractions, or ratios of Fibonacci
numbers
and its reciprocal:
The convergents of these continued fractions (1/1, 2/1, 3/2, 5/3, 8/5,
13/8, ..., or 1/1, 1/2, 2/3, 3/5, 5/8, 8/13, ...) are ratios of successive
Fibonacci numbers.
The equation
2
= 1 + likewise produces the continued square root, or
infinite surd, form:
An infinite series can be derived to express phi:
[65]
Also:
These correspond to the fact that the length of the diagonal of a regular pentagon is times the length of its side,
and similar relations in a pentagram.
Geometry
Approximate and true golden spirals. The green spiral is
made from quarter-circles tangent to the interior of each
square, while the red spiral is a Golden Spiral, a special type
of logarithmic spiral. Overlapping portions appear yellow.
The length of the side of one square divided by that of the
next smaller square is the golden ratio.
Dividing a line segment according to the
golden ratio
The number turns up frequently in geometry, particularly in figures with pentagonal symmetry. The length of a
regular pentagon's diagonal is times its side. The vertices of a regular icosahedron are those of three mutually
orthogonal golden rectangles.
There is no known general algorithm to arrange a
given number of nodes evenly on a sphere, for any
of several definitions of even distribution (see, for
example, Thomson problem). However, a useful
approximation results from dividing the sphere into
parallel bands of equal surface area and placing one
node in each band at longitudes spaced by a golden
section of the circle, i.e. 360/ 222.5. This
method was used to arrange the 1500 mirrors of
the student-participatory satellite Starshine-3.
[66]
Dividing a line segment
The following algorithm produces a geometric construction that
divides a line segment into two line segments where the ratio of the
longer to the shorter line segment is the golden ratio:
1. Having a line segment AB, construct a perpendicular BC at
point B, with BC half the length of AB. Draw the hypotenuse
AC.
2. Draw an arc with center C and radius BC. This arc intersects
the hypotenuse AC at point D.
3. Draw an arc with center A and radius AD. This arc intersects
the original line segment AB at point S. Point S divides the
original segment AB into line segments AS and SB with lengths in the golden ratio.
Golden triangle, pentagon and pentagram
Golden triangle
Golden triangle
Let A and B be midpoints of the sides
EF and ED of an equilateral triangle
DEF. Extend AB to meet the
circumcircle of DEF at C.
The golden triangle can be characterized as an isosceles triangle ABC with the property that bisecting the angle C
produces a new triangle CXB which is a similar triangle to the original.
If angle BCX = , then XCA = because of the bisection, and CAB =
because of the similar triangles; ABC = 2 from the original isosceles
symmetry, and BXC = 2 by similarity. The angles in a triangle add up to
180, so 5 = 180, giving = 36. So the angles of the golden triangle
are thus 36-72-72. The angles of the remaining obtuse isosceles
triangle AXC (sometimes called the golden gnomon) are 36-36-108.
Suppose XB has length 1, and we call BC length . Because of the
isosceles triangles XC=XA and BC=XC, so these are also length .
Length AC = AB, therefore equals + 1. But triangle ABC is similar to
triangle CXB, so AC/BC = BC/BX, and so AC also equals
2
. Thus
2
= + 1, confirming that is indeed the golden ratio.
Similarly, the ratio of the area of the larger triangle AXC to the smaller CXB is equal to , while the inverse ratio
is 1.
Pentagon
In a regular pentagon the ratio between a side and a diagonal is (i.e. 1/), while intersecting diagonals section
each other in the golden ratio.
[8]
Odom's construction
George Odom has given a remarkably simple construction for involving
an equilateral triangle: if an equilateral triangle is inscribed in a circle and
the line segment joining the midpoints of two sides is produced to
intersect the circle in either of two points, then these three points are in
golden proportion. This result is a straightforward consequence of the
intersecting chords theorem and can be used to construct a regular
pentagon, a construction that attracted the attention of the noted
Canadian geometer H. S. M. Coxeter who published it in Odom's name
as a diagram in the American Mathematical Monthly accompanied by
the single word "Behold!"
[67]
Pentagram
The golden ratio plays an important role in the geometry of pentagrams.
Each intersection of edges sections other edges in the golden ratio. Also,
the ratio of the length of the shorter segment to the segment bounded by
the two intersecting edges (a side of the pentagon in the pentagram's
center) is , as the four-color illustration shows.
A pentagram colored to distinguish its
line segments of different lengths.
The four lengths are in golden ratio to
one another.
The golden ratio in a regular pentagon
can be computed using Ptolemy's
theorem.
The pentagram includes ten isosceles triangles: five acute and five obtuse isosceles triangles. In all of them, the ratio
of the longer side to the shorter side is . The acute triangles are golden triangles. The obtuse isosceles triangles are
golden gnomons.
Ptolemy's theorem
The golden ratio properties of a regular pentagon can be confirmed by
applying Ptolemy's theorem to the quadrilateral formed by removing one
of its vertices. If the quadrilateral's long edge and diagonals are b, and
short edges are a, then Ptolemy's theorem gives b
2
= a
2
+ ab which
yields
Scalenity of triangles
Consider a triangle with sides of lengths a, b, and c in decreasing order.
Define the "scalenity" of the triangle to be the smaller of the two ratios a/b
and b/c. The scalenity is always less than and can be made as close as
desired to .
[68]
Triangle whose sides form a geometric progression
If the side lengths of a triangle form a geometric progression and are in
the ratio 1 : r : r
2
, where r is the common ratio, then r must lie in the
range 1 < r < , which is a consequence of the triangle inequality (the
sum of any two sides of a triangle must be strictly bigger than the length
of the third side). If r = then the shorter two sides are 1 and but their
sum is
2
, thus r < . A similar calculation shows that r > 1. A triangle
whose sides are in the ratio 1 : : is a right triangle (because 1 + =

2
) known as a Kepler triangle.
[69]
Golden triangle, rhombus, and rhombic triacontahedron
A golden rhombus is a rhombus whose diagonals are in the golden ratio. The rhombic triacontahedron is a convex
polytope that has a very special property: all of its faces are golden rhombi. In the rhombic triacontahedron the
dihedral angle between any two adjacent rhombi is 144, which is twice the isosceles angle of a golden triangle and
four times its most acute angle.
[70]
Relationship to Fibonacci sequence
The mathematics of the golden ratio and of the Fibonacci sequence are intimately interconnected. The Fibonacci
sequence is:
One of the rhombic triacontahedron's
rhombi
All of the faces of the rhombic
triacontahedron are golden rhombi
A Fibonacci spiral which approximates the
golden spiral, using Fibonacci sequence
square sizes up to 34.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, ....
The closed-form expression (known as Binet's formula, even though it
was already known by Abraham de Moivre) for the Fibonacci sequence
involves the golden ratio:
The golden ratio is the limit of the ratios of successive terms of the
Fibonacci sequence (or any Fibonacci-like sequence), as originally
shown by Kepler:
[19]
Therefore, if a Fibonacci number is divided by its immediate predecessor
in the sequence, the quotient approximates ; e.g.,
987/610 1.6180327868852. These approximations are alternately
lower and higher than , and converge on as the Fibonacci numbers
increase, and:
More generally:
where above, the ratios of consecutive terms of the Fibonacci
sequence, is a case when .
Furthermore, the successive powers of obey the Fibonacci
recurrence:
This identity allows any polynomial in to be reduced to a linear
expression. For example:
However, this is no special property of , because polynomials in any solution x to a quadratic equation can be
reduced in an analogous manner, by applying:
for given coefficients a, b such that x satisfies the equation. Even more generally, any rational function (with rational
coefficients) of the root of an irreducible nth-degree polynomial over the rationals can be reduced to a polynomial
of degree n 1. Phrased in terms of field theory, if is a root of an irreducible nth-degree polynomial, then
has degree n over , with basis .
Symmetries
The golden ratio and inverse golden ratio have a set of symmetries that preserve and
interrelate them. They are both preserved by the fractional linear transformations
this fact corresponds to the identity and the definition quadratic equation. Further, they are interchanged by the
three maps they are reciprocals, symmetric about , and (projectively)
symmetric about 2.
More deeply, these maps form a subgroup of the modular group isomorphic to the symmetric group
on 3 letters, corresponding to the stabilizer of the set of 3 standard points on the projective line,
and the symmetries correspond to the quotient map the subgroup consisting of the 3-
cycles and the identity fixes the two numbers, while the 2-cycles interchange these, thus
realizing the map.
Other properties
The golden ratio has the simplest expression (and slowest convergence) as a continued fraction expansion of any
irrational number (see Alternate forms above). It is, for that reason, one of the worst cases of Lagrange's
approximation theorem and it is an extremal case of the Hurwitz inequality for Diophantine approximations. This
may be why angles close to the golden ratio often show up in phyllotaxis (the growth of plants).
[71]
The defining quadratic polynomial and the conjugate relationship lead to decimal values that have their fractional
part in common with :
The sequence of powers of contains these values 0.618..., 1.0, 1.618..., 2.618...; more generally, any power of
is equal to the sum of the two immediately preceding powers:
As a result, one can easily decompose any power of into a multiple of and a constant. The multiple and the
constant are always adjacent Fibonacci numbers. This leads to another property of the positive powers of :
If , then:
When the golden ratio is used as the base of a numeral system (see Golden ratio base, sometimes dubbed phinary
or -nary), every integer has a terminating representation, despite being irrational, but every fraction has a non-
terminating representation.
The golden ratio is a fundamental unit of the algebraic number field and is a PisotVijayaraghavan
number.
[72]
In the field we have , where is the -th Lucas number.
The golden ratio also appears in hyperbolic geometry, as the maximum distance from a point on one side of an ideal
triangle to the closer of the other two sides: this distance, the side length of the equilateral triangle formed by the
points of tangency of a circle inscribed within the ideal triangle, is 4 ln .
[73]
Decimal expansion
The golden ratio's decimal expansion can be calculated directly from the expression
with 5 2.2360679774997896964. The square root of 5 can be calculated with the Babylonian method, starting
with an initial estimate such as x = 2 and iterating
for n = 1, 2, 3, ..., until the difference between x
n
and x
n1
becomes zero, to the desired number of digits.
The Babylonian algorithm for 5 is equivalent to Newton's method for solving the equation x
2
5 = 0. In its more
general form, Newton's method can be applied directly to any algebraic equation, including the equation x
2
x 1
= 0 that defines the golden ratio. This gives an iteration that converges to the golden ratio itself,
for an appropriate initial estimate x such as x = 1. A slightly faster method is to rewrite the equation as
x 1 1/x = 0, in which case the Newton iteration becomes
A regular square pyramid is determined by
its medial right triangle, whose edges are
the pyramid's apothem (a), semi-base (b),
and height (h); the face inclination angle is
also marked. Mathematical proportions
b:h:a of and and
are of particular
interest in relation to Egyptian pyramids.
These iterations all converge quadratically; that is, each step roughly doubles the number of correct digits. The
golden ratio is therefore relatively easy to compute with arbitrary precision. The time needed to compute n digits of
the golden ratio is proportional to the time needed to divide two n-digit numbers. This is considerably faster than
known algorithms for the transcendental numbers and e.
An easily programmed alternative using only integer arithmetic is to calculate two large consecutive Fibonacci
numbers and divide them. The ratio of Fibonacci numbers F
25001
and F
25000
, each over 5000 digits, yields over
10,000 significant digits of the golden ratio.
The golden ratio has been calculated to an accuracy of several millions of decimal digits (sequence A001622 in
OEIS). Alexis Irlande performed computations and verification of the first 17,000,000,000 digits.
[74]
Pyramids
Both Egyptian pyramids and those mathematical regular square
pyramids that resemble them can be analyzed with respect to the
golden ratio and other ratios.
Mathematical pyramids and triangles
A pyramid in which the apothem (slant height along the bisector of a
face) is equal to times the semi-base (half the base width) is
sometimes called a golden pyramid. The isosceles triangle that is
the face of such a pyramid can be constructed from the two halves
of a diagonally split golden rectangle (of size semi-base by
apothem), joining the medium-length edges to make the apothem.
The height of this pyramid is times the semi-base (that is, the
slope of the face is ); the square of the height is equal to the
area of a face, times the square of the semi-base.
The medial right triangle of this "golden" pyramid (see diagram), with
sides is interesting in its own right, demonstrating via
the Pythagorean theorem the relationship or
. This "Kepler triangle"
[75]
is the only right triangle proportion with edge lengths in geometric
progression,
[69]
just as the 345 triangle is the only right triangle proportion with edge lengths in arithmetic
progression. The angle with tangent corresponds to the angle that the side of the pyramid makes with respect
to the ground, 51.827... degrees (51 49' 38").
[76]
A nearly similar pyramid shape, but with rational proportions, is described in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (the
source of a large part of modern knowledge of ancient Egyptian mathematics), based on the 3:4:5 triangle;
[77]
the
face slope corresponding to the angle with tangent 4/3 is 53.13 degrees (53 degrees and 8 minutes).
[78]
The slant
height or apothem is 5/3 or 1.666... times the semi-base. The Rhind papyrus has another pyramid problem as well,
again with rational slope (expressed as run over rise). Egyptian mathematics did not include the notion of irrational
numbers,
[79]
and the rational inverse slope (run/rise, multiplied by a factor of 7 to convert to their conventional units
of palms per cubit) was used in the building of pyramids.
[77]
Another mathematical pyramid with proportions almost identical to the "golden" one is the one with perimeter equal
to 2 times the height, or h:b = 4:. This triangle has a face angle of 51.854 (5151'), very close to the 51.827 of
the Kepler triangle. This pyramid relationship corresponds to the coincidental relationship .
Egyptian pyramids very close in proportion to these mathematical pyramids are known.
[78]
Egyptian pyramids
In the mid-nineteenth century, Rber studied various Egyptian pyramids including Khafre, Menkaure and some of
the Giza, Sakkara, and Abusir groups, and was interpreted as saying that half the base of the side of the pyramid is
the middle mean of the side, forming what other authors identified as the Kepler triangle; many other mathematical
theories of the shape of the pyramids have also been explored.
[69]
One Egyptian pyramid is remarkably close to a "golden pyramid"the Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the
Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu). Its slope of 51 52' is extremely close to the "golden" pyramid inclination of 51 50'
and the -based pyramid inclination of 51 51'; other pyramids at Giza (Chephren, 52 20', and Mycerinus, 50
47')
[77]
are also quite close. Whether the relationship to the golden ratio in these pyramids is by design or by
accident remains open to speculation.
[80]
Several other Egyptian pyramids are very close to the rational 3:4:5
shape.
[78]
Adding fuel to controversy over the architectural authorship of the Great Pyramid, Eric Temple Bell, mathematician
and historian, claimed in 1950 that Egyptian mathematics would not have supported the ability to calculate the slant
height of the pyramids, or the ratio to the height, except in the case of the 3:4:5 pyramid, since the 3:4:5 triangle was
the only right triangle known to the Egyptians and they did not know the Pythagorean theorem, nor any way to
reason about irrationals such as or .
[81]
Michael Rice
[82]
asserts that principal authorities on the history of Egyptian architecture have argued that the
Egyptians were well acquainted with the golden ratio and that it is part of mathematics of the Pyramids, citing
Giedon (1957).
[83]
Historians of science have always debated whether the Egyptians had any such knowledge or
not, contending rather that its appearance in an Egyptian building is the result of chance.
[84]
In 1859, the pyramidologist John Taylor claimed that, in the Great Pyramid of Giza, the golden ratio is represented
by the ratio of the length of the face (the slope height), inclined at an angle to the ground, to half the length of the
side of the square base, equivalent to the secant of the angle .
[85]
The above two lengths were about 186.4 and
115.2 meters respectively. The ratio of these lengths is the golden ratio, accurate to more digits than either of the
original measurements. Similarly, Howard Vyse, according to Matila Ghyka,
[86]
reported the great pyramid height
148.2 m, and half-base 116.4 m, yielding 1.6189 for the ratio of slant height to half-base, again more accurate than
the data variability.
Disputed observations
Examples of disputed observations of the golden ratio include the following:
Historian John Man states that the pages of the Gutenberg Bible were "based on the golden section shape".
However, according to Man's own measurements, the ratio of height to width was 1.45.
[87]
Some specific proportions in the bodies of many animals (including humans
[88][89]
) and parts of the shells of
mollusks
[3]
are often claimed to be in the golden ratio. There is a large variation in the real measures of these
elements in specific individuals, however, and the proportion in question is often significantly different from
the golden ratio.
[88]
The ratio of successive phalangeal bones of the digits and the metacarpal bone has been
said to approximate the golden ratio.
[89]
The nautilus shell, the construction of which proceeds in a
logarithmic spiral, is often cited, usually with the idea that any logarithmic spiral is related to the golden ratio,
but sometimes with the claim that each new chamber is proportioned by the golden ratio relative to the
previous one;
[90]
however, measurements of nautilus shells do not support this claim.
[91]
In investing, some practitioners of technical analysis use the golden ratio to indicate support of a price level,
or resistance to price increases, of a stock or commodity; after significant price changes up or down, new
support and resistance levels are supposedly found at or near prices related to the starting price via the
golden ratio.
[92]
The use of the golden ratio in investing is also related to more complicated patterns
described by Fibonacci numbers (e.g. Elliott wave principle and Fibonacci retracement). However, other
market analysts have published analyses suggesting that these percentages and patterns are not supported by
the data.
[93]
See also
References and footnotes
Golden angle
List of works designed with the golden ratio
Penrose tiling
Plastic number
Sacred geometry
Silver ratio
1. ^
a

b

c

d

e

f

g
Livio, Mario (2002). The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World's Most Astonishing Number
(http://books.google.com/books?id=w9dmPwAACAAJ). New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-0815-5.
2. ^
a

b

c
Piotr Sadowski (1996). The knight on his quest: symbolic patterns of transition in Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight (http://books.google.com/books?id=RNFqRs3Ccp4C&pg=PA124). University of Delaware Press.
p. 124. ISBN 978-0-87413-580-0.
p. 124. ISBN 978-0-87413-580-0.
3. ^
a

b
Richard A Dunlap, The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Numbers, World Scientific Publishing, 1997
4. ^
a

b
Euclid, Elements (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/toc.html), Book 6, Definition 3.
5. ^ Summerson John, Heavenly Mansions: And Other Essays on Architecture (New York: W.W. Norton, 1963) p.
37. "And the same applies in architecture, to the rectangles representing these and other ratios (e.g. the 'golden
cut'). The sole value of these ratios is that they are intellectually fruitful and suggest the rhythms of modular
design."
6. ^ Jay Hambidge, Dynamic Symmetry: The Greek Vase, New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1920
7. ^ William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler, Universal Principles of Design: A Cross-Disciplinary Reference,
Gloucester MA: Rockport Publishers, 2003
8. ^
a

b
Pacioli, Luca. De divina proportione, Luca Paganinem de Paganinus de Brescia (Antonio Capella) 1509,
Venice.
9. ^ Strogatz, Steven (September 24, 2012). "Me, Myself, and Math: Proportion Control"
(http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/proportion-control/). New York Times.
10. ^
a

b
Weisstein, Eric W., "Golden Ratio Conjugate (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatioConjugate.html)",
MathWorld.
11. ^ Mario Livio,The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World's Most Astonishing Number, p.6
12. ^ " , ,
" as translated in Richard Fitzpatrick (translator) (2007). Euclid's Elements of Geometry.
ISBN 978-0615179841., p. 156
13. ^ Euclid, [http:/.aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/toc.html Elements], Book 6, Proposition 30.
14. ^ Euclid, Elements (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/toc.html), Book 2, Proposition 11; Book 4,
Propositions 1011; Book 13, Propositions 16, 811, 1618.
15. ^ "The Golden Ratio" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Golden_ratio.html). The MacTutor
History of Mathematics archive. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
16. ^ Weisstein, Eric W., "Golden Ratio (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html)", MathWorld.
17. ^ Hemenway, Priya (2005). Divine Proportion: Phi In Art, Nature, and Science. New York: Sterling. pp. 2021.
ISBN 1-4027-3522-7.
18. ^ Plato (360 BC) (Benjamin Jowett trans.). "Timaeus" (http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/timaeus.html). The Internet
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19. ^
a

b
James Joseph Tattersall (2005). Elementary number theory in nine chapters (http://books.google.com/?
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85014-8.
20. ^ Underwood Dudley (1999). Die Macht der Zahl: Was die Numerologie uns weismachen will
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21. ^ Cook, Theodore Andrea (1979) [1914]. The Curves of Life (http://books.google.com/?id=ea-TStM-
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Publications. ISBN 0-486-23701-X.
22. ^ Gardner, Martin (2001), The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems :
Number Theory, Algebra, Geometry, Probability, Topology, Game Theory, Infinity, and Other Topics of
Recreational Mathematics (http://books.google.com/books?id=orz0SDEakpYC&pg=PA88), W. W. Norton &
Company, p. 88, ISBN 9780393020236.
23. ^ Jaric, Marko V. (2012), Introduction to the Mathematics of Quasicrystals (http://books.google.com/books?
id=OToVjZW9CKMC&pg=PR10), Elsevier, p. x, ISBN 9780323159470, "Although at the time of the discovery of
quasicrystals the theory of quasiperiodic functions had been known for nearly sixty years, it was the mathematics
of aperiodic Penrose tilings, mostly developed by Nicolaas de Bruijn, that provided the major influence on the new
field."
24. ^ Van Mersbergen, Audrey M., "Rhetorical Prototypes in Architecture: Measuring the Acropolis with a
Philosophical Polemic", Communication Quarterly, Vol. 46 No. 2, 1998, pp 194-213.
25. ^ Midhat J. Gazal , Gnomon, Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-691-00514-1
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Dogs), p. 108 (http://books.google.com/books?id=eRD9gYk2r6oC&pg=PA108). New York: Thunder's Mouth
Press, 2005, ISBN 1-56025-672-9
27. ^ Boussora, Kenza and Mazouz, Said, The Use of the Golden Section in the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Nexus
Network Journal, vol. 6 no. 1 (Spring 2004), [1] (http://www.emis.de/journals/NNJ/BouMaz.html)
28. ^ Le Corbusier, The Modulor p. 25, as cited in Padovan, Richard, Proportion: Science, Philosophy, Architecture
(1999), p. 316, Taylor and Francis, ISBN 0-419-22780-6
29. ^ Le Corbusier, The Modulor, p. 35, as cited in Padovan, Richard, Proportion: Science, Philosophy, Architecture
(1999), p. 320. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-419-22780-6: "Both the paintings and the architectural designs make use
of the golden section".
30. ^ Urwin, Simon. Analysing Architecture (2003) pp. 154-5, ISBN 0-415-30685-X
31. ^ Jason Elliot (2006). Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran (http://books.google.com/?id=Gcs4IjUx3-
4C&pg=PA284&dq=intitle:%22Mirrors+of+the+Unseen%22+golden-ratio+maidan). Macmillan. pp. 277, 284.
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polyhedra/leonardo.html)
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03-21.
34. ^ "Part of the process of becoming a mathematics writer is, it appears, learning that you cannot refer to the golden
ratio without following the first mention by a phrase that goes something like 'which the ancient Greeks and others
believed to have divine and mystical properties.' Almost as compulsive is the urge to add a second factoid along the
lines of 'Leonardo Da Vinci believed that the human form displays the golden ratio.' There is not a shred of
evidence to back up either claim, and every reason to assume they are both false. Yet both claims, along with
various others in a similar vein, live on." Keith Devlin (May 2007). "The Myth That Will Not Go Away"
(http://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/devlin_05_07.html). Retrieved September 26, 2013.
35. ^ Donald E. Simanek. "Fibonacci Flim-Flam" (http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm). Retrieved
April 9, 2013.
36. ^ Salvador Dal (2008). The Dali Dimension: Decoding the Mind of a Genius
(http://www.dalidimension.com/eng/index.html) (DVD) (in English). Media 3.14-TVC-FGSD-IRL-AVRO.
37. ^ Hunt, Carla Herndon and Gilkey, Susan Nicodemus. Teaching Mathematics in the Block pp. 44, 47, ISBN 1-
883001-51-X
38. ^ Bouleau, Charles, The Painter's Secret Geometry: A Study of Composition in Art (1963) pp.247-8, Harcourt,
Brace & World, ISBN 0-87817-259-9
39. ^ Olariu, Agata, Golden Section and the Art of Painting Available online (http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9908036/)
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41. ^ Jan Tschichold. The Form of the Book, pp.43 Fig 4. "Framework of ideal proportions in a medieval manuscript
without multiple columns. Determined by Jan Tschichold 1953. Page proportion 2:3. margin proportions 1:1:2:3,
Text area proportioned in the Golden Section. The lower outer corner of the text area is fixed by a diagonal as
well."
42. ^ Jan Tschichold, The Form of the Book, Hartley & Marks (1991), ISBN 0-88179-116-4.
43. ^ Jones, Ronald (1971). "The golden section: A most remarkable measure". The Structurist 11: 4452. "Who would
suspect, for example, that the switch plate for single light switches are standardized in terms of a Golden
Rectangle?"
44. ^ Art Johnson (1999). Famous problems and their mathematicians (http://books.google.com/?
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%22&f=false). Libraries Unlimited. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-56308-446-1. "The Golden Ratio is a standard feature of
many modern designs, from postcards and credit cards to posters and light-switch plates."
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contemporary mathematics and computer science (http://books.google.com/?
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dit%20card%22%20%22golden%20ratio%22%20rectangle&f=false). World Scientific. p. 21. ISBN 978-981-277-
582-5. "A credit card has a form of the golden rectangle."
46. ^ Simon Cox (2004). Cracking the Da Vinci code: the unauthorized guide to the facts behind Dan Brown's
bestselling novel (http://books.google.com/?
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Books. ISBN 978-0-7607-5931-8. "The Golden Ratio also crops up in some very unlikely places: widescreen
televisions, postcards, credit cards and photographs all commonly conform to its proportions."
47. ^ "THE NEW RAPIDE S : Design" (http://www.astonmartin.com/cars/rapide-s/rapide-s-design). "The Golden
Ratio sits at the heart of every Aston Martin."
48. ^ Lendvai, Ern (1971). Bla Bartk: An Analysis of His Music. London: Kahn and Averill.
49. ^ Smith, Peter F. The Dynamics of Delight: Architecture and Aesthetics (http://books.google.com/books?
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ecture+intitle:and+intitle:Aesthetics&as_brr=0&ei=WkkSR5L6OI--
ogLpmoyzBg&sig=Ijw4YifrLhkcdQSMVAjSL5g4zVk) (New York: Routledge, 2003) pp 83, ISBN 0-415-30010-X
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id=4bwKykNp24wC&pg=PA169&dq=intitle:Debussy+intitle:in+intitle:Proportion+golden+la-mer). Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-31145-4.
51. ^ Simon Trezise (1994). Debussy: La Mer (http://books.google.com/?
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Huygens-Fokker.org. Accessed December 1, 2012.
54. ^ Richard Padovan (1999). Proportion (http://books.google.com/?
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(https://arxiv.org/abs/0908.3272), doi:10.1063/1.3356985 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1063%2F1.3356985).
71. ^ Fibonacci Numbers and Nature - Part 2 : Why is the Golden section the "best" arrangement?
(http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat2.html), from Dr. Ron Knott's
(http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/) Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section
(http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/), retrieved 2012-11-29.
72. ^ Weisstein, Eric W., "Pisot Number (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PisotNumber.html)", MathWorld.
73. ^ Horocycles exinscrits : une proprit hyperbolique remarquable
(http://www.cabri.net/abracadabri/GeoNonE/GeoHyper/KBModele/Biss3KB.html), cabri.net, retrieved 2009-07-21.
74. ^ The golden number to 17 000 000 000 digits (http://www.matematicas.unal.edu.co/airlande/phi.html.en).
Universidad Nacional de Colombia. 2008.
75. ^ Radio, Astraea Web (2006). The Best of Astraea: 17 Articles on Science, History and Philosophy
(http://books.google.com/?id=LDTPvbXLxgQC&pg=PA93&dq=kepler-triangle). Astrea Web Radio. ISBN 1-4259-
7040-0.
76. ^ Midhat Gazale, Gnomon: From Pharaohs to Fractals, Princeton Univ. Press, 1999
77. ^
a

b

c
Eli Maor, Trigonometric Delights, Princeton Univ. Press, 2000
78. ^
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b

c
"The Great Pyramid, The Great Discovery, and The Great Coincidence" (http://www.petrospec-
technologies.com/Herkommer/pyramid/pyramid.htm). Retrieved 2007-11-25.
79. ^ Lancelot Hogben, Mathematics for the Million, London: Allen & Unwin, 1942, p. 63., as cited by Dick Teresi,
Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Sciencefrom the Babylonians to the Maya, New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2003, p.56
80. ^ Burton, David M. (1999). The history of mathematics: an introduction (http://books.google.com/books?
id=GKtFAAAAYAAJ) (4 ed.). WCB McGraw-Hill. p. 56. ISBN 0-07-009468-3.
Further reading
81. ^ Bell, Eric Temple (1940). The Development of Mathematics (http://books.google.com/books?
id=_5KAnw3QMC8C&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false). New York: Dover. p. 40.
82. ^ Rice, Michael, Egypt's Legacy: The Archetypes of Western Civilisation, 3000 to 30 B.C pp. 24 Routledge, 2003,
ISBN 0-415-26876-1
83. ^ S. Giedon, 1957, The Beginnings of Architecture, The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 457, as cited in
Rice, Michael, Egypt's Legacy: The Archetypes of Western Civilisation, 3000 to 30 B.C pp.24 Routledge, 2003
84. ^ Markowsky, George (January 1992). "Misconceptions about the Golden Ratio"
(http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~markov/GoldenRatio.pdf) (PDF). College Mathematics Journal (Mathematical
Association of America) 23 (1): 219. doi:10.2307/2686193 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F2686193).
JSTOR 2686193 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2686193).
85. ^ Taylor, The Great Pyramid: Why Was It Built and Who Built It?, 1859
86. ^ Matila Ghyka The Geometry of Art and Life, New York: Dover, 1977
87. ^ Man, John, Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Word (2002) pp. 166167, Wiley, ISBN 0-471-
21823-5. "The half-folio page (30.7 44.5 cm) was made up of two rectanglesthe whole page and its text area
based on the so called 'golden section', which specifies a crucial relationship between short and long sides, and
produces an irrational number, as pi is, but is a ratio of about 5:8."
88. ^
a

b
Pheasant, Stephen (1998). Bodyspace. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7484-0067-2.
89. ^
a

b
van Laack, Walter (2001). A Better History Of Our World: Volume 1 The Universe. Aachen: van Laach
GmbH.
90. ^ Ivan Moscovich, Ivan Moscovich Mastermind Collection: The Hinged Square & Other Puzzles, New York:
Sterling, 2004
91. ^ Peterson, Ivars. "Sea shell spirals" (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/6030/title/Sea_Shell_Spirals).
Science News.
92. ^ For instance, Osler writes that "38.2 percent and 61.8 percent retracements of recent rises or declines are
common," in Osler, Carol (2000). "Support for Resistance: Technical Analysis and Intraday Exchange Rates"
(http://ftp.ny.frb.org/research/epr/00v06n2/0007osle.pdf) (PDF). Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic
Policy Review 6 (2): 5368.
93. ^ Roy Batchelor and Richard Ramyar, "Magic numbers in the Dow (http://www.webcitation.org/5reh6NujR),"
25th International Symposium on Forecasting, 2005, p. 13, 31. "Not since the 'big is beautiful' days have giants
looked better (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2947908/Not-since-the-big-is-beautiful-days-have-giants-
looked-better.html)", Tom Stevenson, The Daily Telegraph, Apr. 10, 2006, and "Technical failure", The
Economist, Sep. 23, 2006, are both popular-press accounts of Batchelor and Ramyar's research.
Doczi, Gyrgy (2005) [1981]. The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture.
Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1-59030-259-1.
Huntley, H. E. (1970). The Divine Proportion: A Study in Mathematical Beauty. New York: Dover Publications.
ISBN 0-486-22254-3.
External links
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), "Golden ratio" (http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?
title=p/g044570), Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-55608-010-4
"Golden Section" (http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/GoldenSection/) by Michael Schreiber, Wolfram
Demonstrations Project, 2007.
Golden Section in Photography: Golden Ratio, Golden Triangles, Golden Spiral
(http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/Eugene_Ilchenko/GoldenSection.html)
Weisstein, Eric W., "Golden Ratio (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html)", MathWorld.
"Researcher explains mystery of golden ratio" (http://www.physorg.com/news180531747.html). PhysOrg.
December 21, 2009..
Knott, Ron. "The Golden section ratio: Phi" (http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-
sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/phi.html). Information and activities by a mathematics professor.
The Pentagram & The Golden Ratio
(http://web.archive.org/web/20071105084747/http://www.contracosta.cc.ca.us/math/pentagrm.htm). Green,
Thomas M. Updated June 2005. Archived November 2007. Geometry instruction with problems to solve.
Schneider, Robert P. (2011). "A Golden Pair of Identities in the Theory of Numbers". arXiv:1109.3216
(http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.3216) [math.HO (http://arxiv.org/archive/math.HO)]. Proves formulas that involve
the golden mean and the Euler totient and Mbius functions.
The Myth That Will Not Go Away (http://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/devlin_05_07.html), by
Keith Devlin, addressing multiple allegations about the use of the golden ratio in culture.
ISBN 0-486-22254-3.
Livio, Mario (2002) [2002]. The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number (Hardback
ed.). NYC: Broadway (Random House). ISBN 0-7679-0815-5.
Joseph, George G. (2000) [1991]. The Crest of the Peacock: The Non-European Roots of Mathematics (New ed.).
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00659-8.
Sahlqvist, Leif (2008). Cardinal Alignments and the Golden Section: Principles of Ancient Cosmography and
Design (3rd Rev. ed.). Charleston, SC: BookSurge. ISBN 1-4196-2157-2.
Schneider, Michael S. (1994). A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of
Nature, Art, and Science. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-016939-7.
Stakhov, A. P. (2009). The Mathematics of Harmony: From Euclid to Contemporary Mathematics and Computer
Science. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 978-981-277-582-5.
Walser, Hans (2001) [Der Goldene Schnitt 1993]. The Golden Section. Peter Hilton trans. Washington, DC: The
Mathematical Association of America. ISBN 0-88385-534-8.
Scimone, Aldo (1997). La Sezione Aurea. Storia culturale di un leitmotiv della Matematica. Palermo: Sigma
Edizioni. ISBN 978-88-7231-025-0.
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