I am taking an Art History class at school and my teacher brought up a number (1.67) that the Greeks found out is the number of beauty. I was wondering if anyone else knew anymore about this? Or even the formula to calculate beauty? It is fascinating to me as I am an art major.
2007-01-19 05:15:13 · 8 answers · asked by Addie 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Oh... 1.618? Well, he said it was ball park.
2007-01-19 05:36:49 · update #1
I'm pretty sure it's 1.618, the Golden Ratio. Look it up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio or
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html .
2007-01-19 05:21:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Are you sure it isn't 1.618? This is known as the golden ratio.
The golden ratio is a number that was used extensively by the Greeks in their architecture.
Think of a rectangle that has dimensions of 1618 units wide and 1000 units tall. This is a ratio of 1.618. Now if you take out a square of 1000 x 1000 units, you have a remaining rectangle of 618 x 1000 units. If you divide 1000 by 618, you get 1.618...
You can continue the pattern. If you remove a square of 618 x 618, you are left with a rectangle of 618 by 382. And this ratio is 1.618...
Now it isn't exactly 1.618... The actual number is [ 1 + sqrt(5) ] / 2 which is irrational, but is approximated by 1.618...
Davinci, Mondrean, Dali and others have used the ratio in their paintings and you can read about it below.
2007-01-19 13:17:34 · answer #2 · answered by Puzzling 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you sure it was 1.67? And not 1.618033....
Because, through some searching, I found that phi is the "number of beauty." And it is equal to the so-called golden ratio.And that number is Fibonacci's Number.
Which is obtained by the Fibonacci sequence.
The sequence starts with 1 and the next number is the sum of the two prvious number:
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 and so on...
Phi (the number of beauty), is obtained by dividing each number by the number that precedes it.
1/1 = 1
2/1 = 2
3/2 = 1.5
5/3 = 1.6666
8/5 = 1.6
13/8 = 1.625
and so on....
If you were to continue this pattern forever. The ratio obtained would converge to Fibonacci's number. 1.618033988......
Now with its reference to art. I have no idea. But these 2 sites will likely help you with that answer.
2007-01-19 13:32:08 · answer #3 · answered by Michael Dino C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably he was referring to the Golden Ratio, which is about 1.618, not 1.67. More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio .
The exact value of the Golden Ratio is (1 + sqrt(5))/2.
2007-01-19 13:25:41 · answer #4 · answered by jcastro 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I remember that phi, the golden ratio, 1.6180339 was also known as the beautiful number. 1.67 or 5/3 is just an approximation to it. The ratio has been used in lots of paintings and architecture, and it is also thought of as a ratio found in most humans.
2007-01-19 13:23:06 · answer #5 · answered by rawfulcopter adfl;kasdjfl;kasdjf 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I like the the idea of a milli-Helen, the amount of beauty needed to launch one ship.
2007-01-19 13:22:24 · answer #6 · answered by J C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio
2007-01-19 13:25:11 · answer #7 · answered by computerguy103 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So, beauty and the beast = 667.67? Hmm
2007-01-19 13:18:46 · answer #8 · answered by bequalming 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋