The ratio of hand to forearm approximates the Golden Ratio.Perhaps the reason human beings appear to prefer Golden Ratio proportions and find their use visually appealing is because at a subconscious level we are accustomed to seeing these proportions in ourselves and each other. However it may be that people who gravitate towards the art and design fields have an intuitive understanding of this system of proportion and make use of it unconsciously.Įxamples of the Golden ratio as it appears in the human body Many designers do not consciously use the Divine Proportion in their day to day work. It appears that a structure based on (or approximately based on) the measurements of the Divine Proportion will look aesthetically pleasing.ĭesigners can use this understanding of proportion in an effort to make their work more visually appealing. (The mathematical formula of the Divine proportion is (AB divided by AC) = (AC divided by CB) The ratio 1 : 1.618 is also known as the Greek letter Phi. The appearance of rectangles created using the Golden Ratio is based on the Divine Proportion. (The Geometry of Design, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2001)Ĭlick here to see how a golden section rectangle is drawn The Geometry of Design, a book by graphic designer called Kimberley Elam refers to this. Similar experiments have been undertaken and have achieved approximately the same results. He measured thousands of rectangular items - eg books, newspapers, boxes, buildings etc - and found that the majority of people preferred to look at and use rectangular objects with proportions of 1:1.618 Most people - whatever their cultural background - appear to find these compositional proportions aesthetically pleasing.Īt the end of the 19th Century, a German psychologist called Gustav Fechner researched human response to rectangular shapes based on Golden Ratio. The Golden Ratio - 1:1.618 (also known as the Golden Section) If a person divides a number in the list by the number that came before it, this ratio comes closer and closer to the golden ratio.Which of the rectangles below do you feel looks the most pleasingly proportioned? A person can find the next number in the list by adding the last two numbers together. The Fibonacci numbers are a list of numbers. The big rectangle and the pink rectangle have the same form, but the pink rectangle is smaller and is turned. The blue part (B) is a square, and the pink part by itself (A) is another golden rectangle because. In the picture, the big rectangle (blue and pink together) is a golden rectangle because. If a square is cut off from one end of a golden rectangle, then the other end is a new golden rectangle. If the length of a rectangle divided by its width is equal to the golden ratio, then the rectangle is a "golden rectangle". For any such rectangle, and only for rectangles of that specific proportion, if we remove square B, what is left, A, is another golden rectangle that is, with the same proportions as the original rectangle. The large rectangle BA is a golden rectangle that is, the proportion b:a is 1. Either way, the number will still keep going and never stop. An important thing about this number is that a person can subtract 1 from it or divide 1 by it. If a person tries to write it, it will never stop and never make a pattern, but it will start this way: 1.6180339887. The golden ratio is an irrational number. Is like any number which, when multiplied by itself, makes 5 (or which number is multiplied). Because these two ratios are equal, this is true: The Greek letter ( phi) is usually used as the name for the golden ratio.įor example, if b = 1 and a/ b =, then a =. If these two ratios are equal to the same number, then that number is called the golden ratio. Another ratio is found by adding the two numbers together and dividing this by the larger number a. With one number a and another smaller number b, the ratio of the two numbers is found by dividing them.
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