The Golden Ratio
Some people are just so...proportional. Might it be due to their proportional similarity to the Golden Ratio? Next time you notice your cute lab partner, try complimenting him or her with a well-placed comparison to the Parthenon, a plant, or a really nicely proportioned rectangle. Works every time, we swear.
| Language | English Language |
| Ratios, Percentages, and Proportions | Ratios |
Transcript
… even on your own body. Okay, so what is this golden ratio?
Wait – let me guess… one-half? <<DS OLD ENGLISH WOMAN VOICE –OEW>>
Nah… What about about two-thirds, dear? <<DS –OEW
Voice>> Nope, wrong again. The Golden Ratio is…
drumroll, please… One plus the square root of five- all over
two. Or approximately One point Six One Eight. Yikes-a-bee. That muddled mess is our Golden
Ratio? <<DS OEW Voice>> You betcha. But it wasn’t just some mathematician
who loves making kids break out in hives who came up with it.
The Golden Ratio, often represented by this symbol:
…is Mother Nature’s way of keeping things proportionate.
For example, measure the height, or length, of your face, and divide it by the width of
your face.
Pretty close to the Golden Ratio, wouldn’t you say?
What about the length from your elbow to your wrist divided by the length from your wrist
to the tip of your middle finger? If you’re not yet spooked out, keep trying
this trick with all sorts of things…
…flower height to flower width…
…television length to television width…
…and so on. It’s almost as if there is order to the
universe. What else can you find that closely approximates
the Golden Ratio?
Keep it clean, please.
YouTube blurb:
Even if you may not realize it, there is a particular proportion that runs rampant, popping
up nearly everywhere you look. Unless you’re currently inside a lumberyard with many long,
thin planks of wood, in which case… you can disregard.