The Golden Mean

1671 Words7 Pages
The Golden Mean in Nature The proportion, The Golden Mean, has always existed in mathematics and the physical world yet it is unknown exactly when it was first discovered or applied by man. Many believe that it has been discovered and rediscovered throughout history. This is a reasonable explanation to why it is known by so many names. The Golden Mean was referred to as, “Divine Proportion,” in the 1500’s. Da Vinci provided illustrations in one of his many books and was the first to call it, “sectio aurea,” Latin for golden section. Renaissance artists used the golden mean in their paintings and sculptures to achieve beauty and balance. Many architects and artists in the past and even today, 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 ratio—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing. Egyptians used the golden mean in the construction of the Great Pyramids. It is used in the architecture of The Parthenon, The Statue of Athena, and in Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, Mona Lisa. Plato even considered the golden section to be the most binding of all mathematical relationships and the key to the physics of the cosmos. Euclid linked the ratio to the construction of the pentagram and referred to dividing a line at this number or ratio as, “dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio.” Phi wasn’t used until the 1900’s to represent this proportion. Mark Barr is responsible for this. Phi is for Phidias, Greek artist who used the golden mean/ratio in many of his sculptures. This is also the equivalent to the letter “F” in Greek. Phi is a natural number but differs in pi or e because this number occurs in living things. In the world of nature, things grow and increase by adding units. Phi is an ideal rate of growth for things
Open Document