Phi (Phee)- "It's a magic number"
2 blogs in one day. Lucky lucky people.
For all of those that missed the conversation earlier today, there is a magic number called 'Phi' pronounced 'phee' (
) and is actually 1.618 (to 3DP). The actual formula to work out Phi is (
5 + 1)/2 apparently, but basically it is a ratio of 1:1.618, well inside the 1:1 - 1:2 ratio that we were given in yesterdays lecture. There is also another version of Phi called Phi-1 or phi (small P) which is 0.618, but this doesn't fall into the ratio scale.
According to the 'Design Basics Index' book by Jim Krause (ISBN 0-7153-2053-X):
"A measurement, divided by Phi, produces the larger of its two Golden Sections - an aesthetically pleasing relationship that has long been favored by artists, architects and the forces of nature itself, i.e the spiral within a nautilus shell."
Phi is also closely linked to the Fibonacci Sequence (adding the previous 2 numbers together) because as you rise up the Fibonacci Sequence, the ratio between the numbers gets closer to Phi.
The book itself navigation (splitting the pages into sections and then sub sections) also uses this Golden Ratio. Also in the book is an exercise, which will allow you to create your own vector based 'golden ruler' which can be scaled up and down and will always show you the Golden Sections, and could well come in handy for the new assignment.
More information about Phi can be found in the above book on pages 34-35 although there are also a few links below explaining a little more about it, and in more detail about it's connections with the Fibonacci Sequence. Do be careful however, some parts do get a bit technical and mathematical.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html
http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/phi.html
http://www.championtrees.org/yarrow/phi/phi1.htm
It really does seem as if Phi will be a huge help in the new assignment, and I hope this information has helped everyone in some way and that you can then further my information with some further research of your own.
See you all next week.
2 comments:
I noticed something about that in the very same book you're talking about Craig a while back. It never really stuck with me though, and I think I might have to go back to it.
Cheers for reminding me about it Craig.
For anyone who has read the Da Vinci Code, there is a full chapter on Phi. It is very interesting how Phi is linked to all the measurements on a human body. So much so (the sad get that I am) got a ruler out and started measuring the parts of the body that are mentioned and lo and behold it all boils down to this remarkable ratio. There HAS to be something in this number, even if the rest of the book is a bit sketchy to say the least.
I'll get my coat.
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