It is said that a well-proportioned face must lie in what is called a "golden rectangle" of dimensions in the ratio of approximately 1 to 1.6. Not only living forms, but also works of art and buildings, including the splendid domes of Persia and the Athens Parthenon, are found to adhere to this rule. The ratio became even more pronounced during the European Renaissance, when Leonardo Da Vinci studied the physical proportions of man and portrayed them in his unfinished canvas of St Jerome along with other works such as the "Mona Lisa" and the "Vitruvian Man".

So, quite apart from the other mathematical constants, Pi = 3.14, e = 2.718 (Euler Number), Gamma = 0.577 (Euler Constant), and i = sqrt(- 1) which possess mathematical properties only, the Golden Ratio Phi = 1.618... has an additional aesthetic feature. Since mathematicians in ancient times were often poets and philosophers who believed in the uniformity of nature, mathematics served to satisfy their need to understand the world around them and to resolve its secrets. Hence, they started tracking this constant in everyday objects such as plants and animals, and discovered that the proportions of many conformed with this ratio. This was why, by the time of the Renaissance, it had become known as the "Divine Proportion"...

The amazing Golden Ratio, Assem Deif, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 864, September 27 - October 03, 2007.

Previously:

The Ahmes code, May 11, 2007.

A Question of Ancient Mathematics, March 21, 2007.

Reply: Mathematics in Ancient Egypt, February 07, 2007.

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt, January 26, 2007.