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geometrymatters:

How to use the Golden Ratio

source here.

I Hate The Golden Ratio

As a math nerd, I hate the golden ratio. I hate the golden spiral, too.

1. No issue with the rectangle and triangle.
2. This gives no detail about how to organize these circles which is… kinda relevant to what spiral you get… 
3. Look at the sunflower seeds. They don’t follow the golden spiral at all. Look at any other spirals in the spiral aloe and you’ll see that none of them match the golden spiral as well as the one they drew over. The truth of the matter is that lots of biological processes produce logarithmic spirals. The golden spiral is one specific example of an logarithmic spiral – it’s defined by its precise pitch, or how fast it grows. So when things are sorta the same shape as a golden spiral, that’s not a golden spiral. It’s a logarithmic spiral! Nautilus shells: also not golden spirals. They’re just logarithmic! These pictures are all blatantly incorrect!
4. It’s commonly claimed that the human body is in golden ratio proportions, and this is not actually true? The human body comes in an astounding and beautiful array of proportions. The whole fascination with the golden ratio was manufactured of whole cloth in the renaissance i’m pretty sure???
5. some of the egyptian pyramids are actually kinda close to the golden ratio! but it’s widely disputed why this is, whether it’s intentional, or completely by accident. plenty of them are in other ratios!
6. Okay the parthenon is the one thing i’m most pissed about. ‘cause see that picture? Look at it. It’s taken at a drastic angle and the rectangle doesn’t even match up with the Parthenon itself. quoted from wiki: “Certainly, the oft repeated assertion that the Parthenon in Athens is based on the golden ratio is not supported by actual measurements. In fact, the entire story about the Greeks and golden ratio seems to be without foundation. The one thing we know for sure is that Euclid, in his famous textbook Elements, written around 300 BC, showed how to calculate its value.”
7. Parthenon: no golden ratios!!!!
8. It’s true that it’s pretty aesthetically pleasing – but also remember that there are plenty of other pleasing ratios. Use ratios and spirals as they’re appropriate! It’s not a panacea. fury road was one of the most striking movies this year in large part because they decided to center their shots! the golden ratio is a tool and sometimes it works. just frame things so they look good. train your own perception to get better at seeing what is good and bad!
9. okay i gotta breathe before this next one
10. breathe
11. breathe
12. okay
13. the apple logo one pisses me off so much because like… if two things are in the golden ratio, then one of them should be about one and a half times as big as the other. the apple is like three times taller than the leaf. that’s not the golden ratio at allasjdpfkoj;vlxn;ewlkqjrpoqjwkefl;jas’;dfjl why do you do this to me
14. basically here’s the ish: you can slap a golden spiral on anything and tell people it fits! and that makes you a dirty dirty liar! inspect your ratios! distrust the golden ratio! everyone makes a huge deal out of it! can we stop misrepresenting math it makes me hurt :(((
15. look okay if you still don’t believe me then you are a lost cause. here. have these pictures of the beautiful and very significant appearance of the golden spiral in nature:

Thank you for doing this important work, Ada.