Beautiful Simplicity of the Golden Ratio
It is interesting to me to think back on how many times I
saw the image above or something similar in my life. It is funny how as a young
child it seems like some weird math mumbo-jumbo. As you grow older, you learn
it is some universal math formula of some sort and you brush it off at
that and do not think about it ever again.
The Fibonacci, Fractals, and Financial Markets video put it
all into a new perspective for me. I had heard about this “golden ratio”
(Socionomics 2007) being present in DNA, flowers, and something
regarding the recession but the whole simplistic phenomenon behind it never had
an impact on me until I watched this video.
When you can link a naturally occurring phenomenon to the cyclical
cycle of the stock market is when things began to get fascinating to me. After
all, humans are part of nature, and nature will always want to complete tasks
in the most efficient way possible (Socionomics 2007). David Campbell’s blog put in well in
stating that “Nature has a rhythm and so it is not such a massive leap of faith
to observe and believe the human-driven markets have a natural rhythm too”. (Campbell 2011).
It is hard because no one wants to believe that math is
beautiful like art. It is difficult, it stresses you out in school, and often
makes you want to rip your hair out. However, when you put math into a form
that is more universally understandable among people, like music, it begins to
all make sense.
“But many vibratory phenomena, especially those in which we perceive
some sort of pitch, repeat approximately regularly. If we assume that in fact
they are repeating, we can measure the rate of repetition, and we call that the
waveform’s frequency.” (
Burk, Polansky, Repetto, Roberts & Rockmore). This is essentially what they did in the video, and the golden ratio
(or phi) sound absolutely beautiful. You can even see the golden ratio in
naturally occurring nature (Socionomics 2007).
How to Architect
The Fourth-Dimension hits the nail on the head with its interpretation of how “artists and mathematicians, who share the goal of giving the visual form to spatial fourth dimension” (Henderson 1984 pp. 209) are really fighting to show that art can encompass and reflect the most complex chaotic systems in the universe and break it down into something as simple as the golden ratio.
References
Blake, Michael. “What Phi
(the golden ratio) Sounds Like”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 15 June
2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Burk, Polansky, Repetto,
Roberts, Rockmore. “Chapter 1: The Digital Representation of Sound, Part One:
Sound and Timbre. Section 1.3: Frequency, Pitch, and Intervals”. “Music and
Computers: A Theoretical and Historical Approach”. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Campbell, David. “Lunar
Cycles and Golden Ratios: Exposing the Weird World of Chartism”. Citywire. 03
June 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Henderson, Linda D. “The
Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion”.
Leonardo, Vol. 17, No. 3. (1984), pp. 205-210.
Socionomics. “Fibonacci,
Fractals and Financial Markets – Socionomics.net”. Online video clip. YouTube.
YouTube, 31 May 2007. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
I also watched the video that related the stock market fluctuations to the Fibonacci sequence, but I found it difficult to believe that it is that strongly correlated to the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence increases indefinitely, while the stock market is limited by the amount of resources available for human use. Also, if it was that easy to predict market fluctuations wouldn't investors try to game the market, which in turn would lead to a different pattern?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you put in the video on Phi, it truly was wonderful to listen too! I too feel like I have seen the Golden Ratio picture thousands of times in classrooms. It's amazing to think about how the Golden Ratio is all around you, in nature, art and even our buildings. I also like how the Golden Ratio reminds us that math is nature, not scary invented numbers to torture us in schools; but math is nature, the natural expression of how things are. I really enjoyed your post!
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