What is the Golden ratio?
Do you remember learning about Fibonacci series in school? Simply put, it’s a series of numbers where the last number is the sum of the previous two numbers. When you think about it, these numbers can infinitely go on and on. The actual Golden Ratio is 1:1.61, where1.61 is the value of the Greek alphabet, phi. Using this ratio, mathematicians and designers have discovered a way to create a perfectly balanced rectangle which is now called ‘The Golden Rectangle’. Designers and architects use the Golden Ratio design to achieve images that are perfectly balanced and natural. When a curve is plotted that starts with the outermost rectangle leading up to the innermost one by touching all the vertices, you will get a beautiful looking curve which is also called as “The Golden Spiral”. These curves are mostly used to position many elements of an image to give it the balanced look.
History of the Golden ratio:
The Golden ratio has been in use for over 4000 years now. Some people say that it was used to design the pyramids of Egypt. Since the ratio originated in Greece, it’s only obvious that some of the ancient Greek architectures have made use of this ratio during construction. You can actually notice it on some of the buildings if you look carefully enough. Not only architectures, but the ratio was used in paintings as well. If you’ve seen “The Da Vince Code” or read the book, you will know that Leonardo Da Vinci used this ratio a lot to create a lot of balanced and aesthetically pleasing images.
Modern day applications:
Once you start looking at different things around you from the perspective of the Golden Ratio, you will realize the rectangles around each and every object. And I don’t just mean the buildings and the paintings. I mean everything, from a shape of a human’s face to a blooming flower.Nature is filled with beautiful things and you will definitely notice this once you begin to play the Golden Ratio to whatever you see. A lot of professional photographers also use this technique to capture perfect photographs. The fact that mathematics is directly related to nature is a beauty in itself.
The Golden Ratio is a deep, massive and a thought-provoking concept that will definitely require all your time and focus to know everything it has to offer. I suggest taking some time to read a little bit more about some in-depth topics, as it can be very intriguing.
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