How Did Leonardo Da Vinci Use The Golden Ratio?

The Golden Ratio, “a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. It is often symbolized using phi, after the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In an equation form, it looks like this: a/b = (a+b)/a = 1.6180339887498948420…” (J, par.1), (see figure 1), has been used throughout history. The Golden Ratio can be seen in art from Da Vinci to today, in buildings from the Greeks to the White House, and even in nature. Leonardo Da Vinci has used the Golden Ratio in most of his art works, ranging from The Last Supper, to the Mona Lisa, and even in his scientific work. In The Last Supper, Da Vinci proportions fit the Golden

One of the most famous buildings to use the Golden Ratio is the Parthenon located in Athens, Greece. The Parthenon was constructed between the years 447 BC and 438 BC, yet it is still standing today. The Parthenon meets many Golden Ratios, the height of the columns fits inside square 21(see figure 6), the width of the columns fits into the Golden Ratio by having the distance between the columns be the same width as the columns (see figure 7), and on the decoration above the columns also fit the Golden Ratio, Gary Meisner explained about the decoration above the columns, “The gold colored grids below are golden rectangles, with a width to height ratio of exactly 1.618 to 1.” (see figure 8), (Meisner2). The Parthenon is not the only structure using the Golden Ratio, even newer buildings like the United Nation Secretariat Building, sometimes known as the United Nation’s Headquarters, located in New York City, New York also has Golden Ratio characteristics. If you take the width of the building and divide it by the Golden Number then multiple it by three the answer is almost the height of the building, on the river ride, 287 ft wide ÷ 1.618 × 3 = 532.2 ft, and the building height is 544 feet

The Golden Ratio is in everything from human faces and animal bodies to sea shells to even spiral galaxies. The most common type of the Golden Ratio in nature is in sea shells, the spiral of the shells meets up with the spiral in a Golden Ratio (see figure 9), (Dvorsky). Shells are not the only spirals in nature that fits into the Golden Ratio, the spiral of hurricanes and tornadoes also count has a Golden Ratio spiral (see figure 10). Golden Ratio spirals can be small like a sea shell, medium like a hurricane or tornado, and large like a spiral galaxy. There are many different galaxies that fit into the Golden Ratio including: the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pinwheel Galaxy, the Sunflower Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, the Whirlpool Galaxy, and the most famous spiral galaxy, the Milky Way