The divine proportion is known in many ways as the golden number, golden ratio, extreme and mean ratio, and divine proportion. It is the answer to the incessant search for beauty and harmony within art and life itself.
The golden ratio has been studied for years, since it has been found in multiple objects by translating the natural perfection to which it is attributed an aesthetic character, so much so that some people throughout history have chosen to believe that it has mystical importance.
Mathematical origin
The famous mathematician Leonardo Pisano, better known as Fibonacci, a native of Italy, dedicated his career to popularizing throughout Europe the Arabic numeral system with a decimal base and also a null value as he wrote the book On the Abacus in 1202. However, his greatest mathematical discovery was the ‘Fibonacci sequence,’ which later gave rise to the golden ratio.
The Fibonacci sequence is a numerical system that consists of the sum of the last two numbers resulting in the next number, so this series is given as follows: 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc. If the ratio between each pair of consecutive numbers is divided by the previous number, it approximates the golden number: 1.618034.
If this series is interpreted graphically, we can glimpse that each of the rectangles is joined to the smaller one by connecting a line between one vertex and another, thus creating the perfect image of the golden ratio.
It should be understood that the calculation of the golden ratio is obtained by creating a midpoint within a segment of the straight line, from there, we create an arc that is from the middle of the line to the tip of the second straight line that is created against the position of our first line.
Once this curve has been generated, we can obtain our hypotenuse to draw a second curve that duplicates the first one and that reaches the line of the hypotenuse to create one more point of union between the two previous curves and duplicate the first one. Thus, find the point on the line where the perfect measure of the golden section is found.
How has the golden ratio been used over the years?
The golden ratio has been a tool not only for mathematicians but also for biologists, artists, and curious people who have found the golden ratio in multiple samples of nature; artists use it to create their works, no matter if they are painters, plastic artists, photographers, etc.
The golden ratio can be present in everything we do in more than one way without realizing it. Brands have also created their logos based on the golden ratio to achieve a better balance within the image and attract the customer’s attention.
Similarly, it has been used in buildings throughout the existence of humanity since the golden ratio helps to create a balance between aesthetics and cost reduction in the acquisition of construction materials, in addition to giving way to the use of new, lighter, and more sustainable materials.
Beliefs surrounding the golden ratio
The fascination for this phenomenon throughout history has been such that the mathematician and theologian Luca Pacioli (Italian) published a book called The Divine Proportion in 1509, in which he explained five main reasons why the golden ratio is considered “divine:”
“O God gave being to the universe through the quintessence, represented at the time by a dodecahedron, and the golden number gave being to the dodecahedron.
O The fact that it is defined by three segments of a straight line, resembles the Trinity.”
In history, it has been thought that this number is more than just the use of aesthetic perfection, but also represents something divine since the calculations and the way it fits perfectly with nature, from a leaf to the physiological shape of a snail.
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva