Golden ratio

 

 

In news:

• For centuries, the golden ratio has fascinated all kinds of people, not just mathematicians.

 

 

Golden ratio :

• The golden ratio can be defined in terms of a line, divided into two unequal segments in a way that their lengths meet a simple condition.
• When the ratio between these two lengths (the longer segment divided by the shorter one) happens to be the same as the ratio between the entire line and the longer segment, then the line is said to be divided in the golden ratio .
• For this condition to hold good, the ratio needs to be 1.61803… with the digits after the decimal going on forever; the golden ratio is what we call an “irrational number”.
• The golden ratio appears in the work of artists and designers from Da Vinci to Corbusier, and also shows itself in nature in pineapple scales, rose petals and many more places.
• The golden ratio divides a line into two unequal parts as shown. The same ratio shows up in the human skull, when the arc over it is divided at the bregma.
• The golden ratio has continued to amaze its diverse fans, frequently cropping up at unexpected places.
• The latest such place is the human skull.
•  If we draw an arc across the top of the skull and divide it at a key junction over the brain, the two arc-segments are approximately in the golden ratio. This feature was studied recently by researchers of Johns Hopkins University, US, who have reported their findings in The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.
• The golden ratio frequently shows itself in nature, whether directly or indirectly (through its cousins called the Fibonacci numbers).

 

 

Examples:

• The  golden ratio appears in the seeds of sunflowers, the scales of pineapples, the arrangement of petals on a rose, DNA structures, the anatomy of the heart — and has now turned up in the human skull.

 

 

Why should such a ratio be considered special? 

• Aesthetic appeal is among the first of many reasons. 
• Architects such as Le Corbusier have consciously proportioned their works to the golden ratio, or close.
• Artists such as Salvador Dalí and Leonardo da Vinci, whose fascination with the golden ratio features in the novel The Da Vinci Code and the film based on it.

 

 

 

The mystery endures

• The golden ratio is alternatively called the golden mean and the divine ratio. Its frequent appearances in nature have driven claims that it is the work of a divine design.
• With its emergence in the human skull, can it fuel further the idea that the ratio has mystical attributes

 

 

Source)

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/the-mysterious-golden-ratio-why-is-it-everywhere-now-in-human-skull-6067588/