Thesis: The Golden Ratio is not only a simple proportion, but also a proportion connected to our

lives in a way that it can revolutionize the world by providing explanations of how nature
functions.

A line division that creates a proportion where the longer half is related to the whole line the
same way the shorter half is related to the longer half is called the Golden Ratio. In simpler form,
the ratio is 1:1.618 and ongoing. The number is very irrational and it is special because we are
seeing more and more implications of it in our lives as time advances. There were many different
implications of the Golden Ratio throughout history. Many of them were different, and that
resulted in the different names used to define the Golden Ratio such as Phi, Divine
Proportion, Golden Number, etc. The Golden Ratio was given the name of Phi
(φ), the first Greek letter of Phi Dias who was a Greek sculptor around 490 to
430 B.C. The man who decided the name, Mark Barr, picked Phi Dias because
he had included the Golden Ratio in his sculptures. The first real definition of the Golden
Ratio was written around 300 B.C. in Euclid's The Elements, a mathematics textbook that
defined mathematical terms, when Euclid defined proportion with these words: "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." This definition relates to Mario Livio's comment in his
article from Plus Magazine, “Who could have guessed that this innocent-looking line division
would have implications for numerous natural phenomena ranging from the leaf and seed
arrangements of plants to the structure of the crystals of some aluminum alloys, and from the arts
to the stock market?” This question describes all the impacts that the golden ratio had on
different things in life, such as art, economy, science and in general how things are made to be.
For art, the golden ratio has revolutionized architecture and photography because people try to
structure things so that it could make the best appeal possible. For economy, the golden ratio has
some relation with the stock market. For science, the golden ratio can be related to nature,
structure of human beings, animals and other living things. This "line division" did indeed lead
to discoveries in market trends, explanations for the way nature grows, and the structures of
many famous pieces of artwork.

When referring to the Golden Ratio, many times the Fibonacci sequence is mentioned as well.
This is because there is a major connection between the two things. In the 12th century an Italian
mathematician, Leonardo Pisano Bigollo (now known as Leonardo of Pisa or Fibonacci),
experimented with an ideal scenario of population growth using rabbits. He was able to generate
from this the well-known Fibonacci sequence. In this number sequence, the numbers go in a
pattern as follows: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ... It may not look very impressive at first, but this
sequence was where the Golden Ratio had generalized from. “The Phi function is intimately
related to the Fibonacci series of numbers, named for the Renaissance mathematician who called
attention to its properties. In a Fibonacci series, a number is selected: the next number in the
series is the sum of that number and the preceding number. (Bangs, 158)” When any number
from the sequence is divided by the previous number, the answer will come close to 1.618. This
was also a significant point about the numbers from the sequence. The relationship between the
Golden Ratio and the numbers from his sequence, Fibonacci had contributed greatly to the
Golden Ratio's discovery. In the recent years, the Fibonacci numbers were taken further and had
matched with the major “top or bottom” of market trends. It's one way the Golden Ratio is
connected to how our economy functions. “Since January 14th, 2000, when the Dow Industrials
hit its closing all-time high — over six years ago, we have noted that every major subsequent top
or bottom has occurred in a Fibonacci .618/.382 ratio number of trading days with another top or
bottom and January 14th, 2000. In many cases, even minor tops or bottoms have occurred in a
phi ratio with another top or bottom. We call these pairs Fibonacci phi mates. Further, because
this has been occurring with uncanny regularity, we have been able to successfully identify
future trend turn dates within +/- 3 days by applying the same phi mate analysis into the future.
(McHugh, <http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/mchugh/2006/0327.html>)" It isn't
only in the Dow industry where the numbers from the Fibonacci Sequence connect to the
economic patterns because according to comment made by Steve Belmont featured in the Daily
Reckoning article , “Since markets are human creations, they respond to human rhythms. Like all
human emotions, fear and greed tend to reach a fever pitch and then, invariably, wane. One could
say market corrections are basically physical manifestations of waning human emotions. Italian
mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci figured out a way to measure the ebbs and flows in human
emotions. This measurement is called a Fibonacci sequence or the “golden ratio. (Denning,
<http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/golden-ratio/2007/08/13/>)” It is not impossible that
everything we do in our lives can be connected to the Golden Ratio. This makes a huge
discovery, impacting our social lives and our society in general. There is a pattern in what we do
because we are human beings, and this pattern can be used to improve our lives, advance further
in our abilities to contribute to the society. This would be a start for the revolutionizing of our
world from using our lives to further advance ourselves.

There were architecture and paintings in history that used the Golden Ratio. “The golden section,
or ‘golden rectangle’, is said to be one of the most visually satisfying of all geometrical forms.
This calculable formula for beauty perceived in a ratio of perfect proportion was known to the
Greeks who, as early as the fifth century BC, had already applied its harmonious balance to the
Athenian Parthenon. It was also much used by Renaissance architects and artists in their triumph
over matter. Through mathematics, they believed, beauty and harmony could be calculated.
(Porter, <http://books.google.com/books?id=I6ilomUOgoMC&printsec=frontcover>)” Since the
Golden Ratio is known to make things look pleasing to the eye, there were many famous
buildings and artwork made using the ratio. Some examples are the Great Pyramid of Giza, The
Parthenon, and the "Sacrament of the Last Supper" painting by Salvador Dali. These examples
are all very well-known works of art, and they include the ratio that makes them so visually
appealing. A golden triangle can be drawn from The Pyramid of Giza because "Half of the base,
the slant height, and the height from the vertex to the center create a right triangle. When that
half of the base equal to one, the slant height would equal to the value of Phi and the height
would equal to the square root of Phi. The picture below is of the Pyramid of Giza, and the
yellow outlined triangle in the middle is a golden triangle.

(<http://library.thinkquest.org/trio/TTQ05063/phibeauty4.htm>)"
 The Parthenon has golden rectangles in it's exterior structure. The picture below is of the
Parthenon and the yellow outlined squares on the building are squares with measurements of the
Fibonacci numbers, therefore it also portrays the golden rectangle.

In Salvador Dali's painting, you can divide the picture into rectangles with lengths and widths
that equal to the Golden Ratio.

(<http://goldennumber.net/art.htm>)
Many Renaissance artists used the Divine Proportion in their works. This application had been
seen in some of Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings. Although for Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa"
 piece that had included the Golden Ratio (a golden rectangle that framed Mona Lisa's face
perfectly), nothing really proves that Da Vinci had purposely used the Golden Ratio in his
painting. "For The Da Vinci Code, the lingering questions left behind are how much
of traditional church teachings are fact, and why people are so willing to
accept things that are probably not true. Our φ Code ends with two similar
questions. The literature on the golden ratio is full of claims that have little or no
basis in fact and in some cases are known to be false. Why is it that these myths live on? And
why are we so eager to believe everything we are told?
(<https://notes.utk.edu/Bio/greenberg.nsf/0/3ad194fabe1afec785256e9400823537?OpenDocume
nt>)" In Keith's article, he talks of how the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has given us possible
truths that cannot be really proven. An example is when he mentions the paintings of artists who
we assumed to have applied the Golden Ratio to their works, but in reality there is no actual
proof that the artists were aware of this or that they used the ratio for a purpose other than an
aesthetic one. On the other hand, Keith concludes with the fact that the connection of the Golden
Ratio with nature is definite, and it provides us with the explanations for the nature of growth.
Even though some artists like Da Vinci, do not give the impression that they were well aware of
using the Golden Ratio in their works, there still are other artists and famous people who were
aware of it and did use the Golden Ratio. The reason for believing that Da Vinci had probably
used the ratio in his works is because of his relationship with Luca Pacioli. Pacioli was the one
who wrote The Divine Proportion, a book about the Golden Ratio. "Luca Pacioli wrote a book
called De Divina Proportione (The Divine Proportion) in 1509. It contains drawings made by
Leonardo da Vinci of the 5 Platonic solids. Leonardo Da Vinci first called it the sectio aurea
(Latin for the golden section).
(<http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT668/EMAT6680.2000/Obara/Emat6690/Golden%20Ratio/gold
en.html>)" Illustrating for a book about the Golden Ratio makes Da Vinci an artist who had used
the ratio in his paintings too. The ratio makes the figures in a painting look proportional and that
is why it seems very appealing to the viewer. Renaissance artists have realized this and that is
why they use the ratio in their works. Still the ratio exists in works by modern artists and in
photography as well. “There are a number of basic rules about the framing of a picture. Most
basic is the Golden Ratio (1:1.618), which is supposed to be the most pleasing to view.
(<http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/James_Gentles/KAP_Photo_Technique.htm>)” The way
pictures are framed and taken are based on this Golden Ratio. This is an indication that the ratio
can be applied to all visual arts such as architecture, paintings, and photography.

The possibility of having a revolutionized world after the influence of the Golden Ratio comes
from the discoveries people are making today. Many people have been able to use the Golden
Ratio and apply it to things such as art, music, architecture, and nature. Le Corbusier, a Swiss-
French painter and architect, came up with his own "harmonic measure to the human scale" that
is "universally applicable to architecture and mechanics." Another contributor is Marquardt, a
Southern Californian plastic surgeon, who discovered what he calls the "Golden Mask". This
mask is generated using the Golden Ratio to structure the "perfect" and "most visually pleasing"
human face. After applying the Golden Ratio to "uglier" faces, Marquardt realized that those
faces match his Golden Mask more than he had expected. This gave him the impression that if
society viewed their people beautiful using the Golden Mask, there would be more beautiful
people in the world than there are today. This would affect the many social lives and better
develop the way our society perceives beauty. Instead of having so many young women suffer
from eating disorders because they want to be like the thin girls on TV, we could promote a
different view of beauty and stop the unnecessary sufferings. The Golden Ratio would influence
our society by reducing the harmful impacts created from the media, and helping people to
realize that true beauty is already in our nature.

In relation to nature, the Golden Ratio can be related to the way leaves grow on a stem. There is
actually a pattern involved in the growth of plants and flowers. “Phyllotaxis is the distribution or
arrangement of leaves on a stem and the mechanisms that govern it. The term is used by
botanists and mathematicians to describe the repetitive arrangement of more than just leaves;
petals, seeds, florets , and branches (sometimes) also qualify. These arrangements are closely
related to the well-known and previously mentioned Fibonacci numbers 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,
34, 55, 89, …" (Adam, 216). This goes back to the numbers from the famous sequence. The way
leaves are arranged on a stem of a plant or flower in a variety of different angles or fractions of a
circle’s revolution. These discoveries allow us to give explanations for things that used to be just
random numbers. This helps our understanding of life sciences.

The irrational number 1.618 was an introduction to irrational numbers for Pythagoreans. "The
realization that there exist numbers, like the Golden Ratio, that go on forever without displaying
any repetition or pattern caused a true philosophical crisis. (Livio, Mario)" As much as the
discovery of irrational numbers surprised the Pythagoreans back in the B.C.s, the relevancy of
the Golden Ratio to many things in our lives surprises us today. The Pythagoreans were very
confident in their generalization that numbers can only be whole, or defined by a fraction, but
when they came upon Phi, their whole theory became faulty. When the Golden Ratio's true
connections to our world is revealed, we are most likely going to be like the Pythagoreans and
have the need for a revolution where most of our laws and theories will have to be redefined. The
fact that the Golden Ratio uncovers so many new discoveries in our world, makes it possible for
it to revolutionize our world in the future. When we take all the new information we've gained
and apply it in our lives by coming up with new methods for what we do, our world will change.
It is like how the Renaissance artists used the Golden Ratio to revolutionize art, we can
revolutionize our world by using the ratio in the same way, applying it to other parts of our lives.
Having a connection to natural growth, human emotion, proportional beauty, the Golden Ratio
will lead us to discover and apply new knowledge to our lives today and revolutionize our world.

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