Re: explain please the phi ratio

From: Randy Poe (poespam-trap_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 09/21/04 

Date: 21 Sep 2004 07:30:52 -0700

Chan-Ho Suh <suh@math.ucdavis.nospam.edu> wrote in message news:<200920042115182382%suh@math.ucdavis.nospam.edu>...
> Architecture books seem to thrive on this kind of thing, so I wouldn't
> be surprised if some modern architects have incorporated phi into their
> work on purpose. I remember one particular book explaining how the
> Greeks made the facade of the Parthenon into a golden rectangle. They
> gave a very convoluted geometric argument and diagram to show this, but
> never explained how they chose the rectangle with which they enclosed
> the facade.

Well, with the Greeks there's a fair chance the choice of
phi is deliberate, since they had almost religious beliefs
about the importance of ratios and the golden ratio in particular.
A little Googling tells me that Pythagoras was very
interested in phi, and was the origin of the idea that humans
are proportioned according to phi. He is also the originator
of the idea that (rational) ratios are important to
music and harmony, originating the Pythagorean tuning
that persisted for centuries.

>
> My favorite myth about phi is that it is supposed to be the ratio of
> height of a person to navel height. Enough said.

Possibly a myth, but firmly believed by the Greeks.

               - Randy

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