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PHI

The Golden Ratio

Welcome!

To learn about Euclid: Phi, Phi, Phi
Euclid: Bringer of Phi Phi and The Da Vinci Code
More About Euclid Why Phi is interesting

Why Phi?

The Greeks knew the ratio determined by Phi as "the dividing line in the extreme and mean ratio" and the Renaissance artists knew it as "the divine proportion."

Euclid, a famous mathematician, brought Phi into the open. To learn more about him, go back to the top of the page where you will find some helpful links.

Phi. Why Phi? you ask. Phi is very important. It is an amazing ratio with unusual mathematical properties, and it can be observed in many aspects of life.

The ratio has been used by humankind for centuries:

Phi, the Golden Ratio, also appears in the physical proportions of the human body,

movements in the stock market, and in many other aspects of life in the universe.

Number Talk

Phi = 1.618033988749895......

It is an irrational number like Pi, except that it is not a transcendental one. It is a solution to a quadratic equation:

n 2 - n 1 - n 0 = 0

The solution to this equation (Phi) is the square root of 5 plus one, divided by two:

(v5 + 1) /2 = 1.6180339..... = Phi





Bibliography



Last updated 4.20.06
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