THE GLITTER OF THE GOLDEN RATIO -- Part 1

·    Why some human faces look stunningly attractive?

·    Why Michelangelo’s celebrated "Statue of David" is regarded as a masterpiece of  everlasting beauty?

·    Why the Parthenon temple in Greece evoked awe and wonder in all visitors?

·    Why the Taj Mahal excels as an architectural marvel?

      Find answers to these questions in …

THE GLITTER OF THE GOLDEN RATIO -- Part 1

(A free-wheeling presentation by Subbaram Danda)

When I was reading Dan Brown’s magnum opus “Da Vinci Code,” I was fascinated by references in it to the “Golden Ratio.”   In fact, the author dealt with it fairly elaborately but it kindled my curiosity further.

What is a Golden Ratio?   What is great about it?   I came across this term for the first time myself.  Being an ardent lover of mathematics and mystic theories, I could not resist the temptation of probing further.  I did some studies on my own and the findings have been more than startling.

Beauty and elegance

It is overwhelming to realize that this ratio and its approximations pervade the entire universe in no uncertain ways, manifesting themselves in nature and the overall creation, including human beings, radiating beauty and elegance.

Coming to brass tacks and brushing up some fundamentals, I would like to say that in general, ratio is what we get by dividing a number by another.  If, in a particular case, the result is 1.61803398874989……., then it is called Golden Ratio (GR).  This numeric value is denoted by the Greek letter “Phi.”   Why this prosaic-looking long figure should be termed golden is really the fulcrum of this whole exercise.

Similarly, if the ratio of the length of a rectangle to its breadth is GR, the rectangle is regarded as a Golden Rectangle.   Likewise, there is a Golden Section, a Golden Triangle and a Golden Spiral, each having GR or its approximation as its basis.   It is not my intention here to go into details of how they have been evolved.
 

Human body 

                                                                              Statue of David

Now let us take a look at the human body.   Measure the length from foot to navel and divide it by the measure from navel to head.  What do we get?   Behold, it is GR.   Now, please do the division for the total height of a man and his measure from foot to navel.   We get GR again or an approximation of it.

It is further interesting to calculate the ratio for the length and width of the face, and for the measures from the top of the head to pupil and pupil to lips.   Here too we get GR or something close to it.

So, scientists have concluded that the human body is structured on the principle of GR.   Studies have also established that wherever the actual ratio is GR or a very close approximation of it, such a human figure or face will look stunningly beautiful.  That is why in a crowd, some personalities stand out and we are unable to take our glances away from them!  Ratios are calculated for arms, fingers, legs, ears, nose, teeth and what not to fine tune and understand the perfection of the human anatomy.


                                                        (To be continued)