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Introduction The Golden Ratio is a concept revered by mathematicians, architects, and artists for centuries.

It is a symbol of beauty to those who knowingly employ it and there very well may be some ground to those beliefs. In this project, we will construct a segment divided in the Golden Ratio as well as a Golden Rectangle,whose sides are in the Golden Ratio. These constructions will be created using the Geometry Explorer computer program and the process will be outlined in the report. The conclusion will contain comments on the appearance of the Golden Ration in nature and human designs, followed by closing remarks.

Fig. 1 Part 1 To divide a segment into the Golden Ratio, we must find some point on the segment such that it

divides the segment into two lengths whose ratio is exactly

1 5 (Fig. 1). This ratio is easy enough 2

to check using the tools in Geometry Explorer. Our construction begins with creating a line segment with a midpoint and a perpendicular at one end, then creating a circle with a radius equal to half of the segment (Fig. 2). Using intersection points from this circle, we can construct another segment completing a right triangle and, using one more circle, we can get our Golden Ratio point, G (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2

Fig. 3 Now, we have assumed the length of AB to be 2. If x is the length of AG, we know x must be

51 in order to divide AB into the Golden Ratio. We prove this to be true by performing a
calculation of the ratio of AB to AG: 2 1 5 = , where x is the length of AG. We cross-multiply to x 2 4 . Using the conjugate of the base, 1 5

get 4=x 5x . We solve for x and find it to be

51
Ratio.

, we find that x is indeed equal to

51 , and thus the point G divides AB into the Golden

Part 2 A Golden Rectangle is a rectangle where the ratio of the long side to the short side is the Golden Ratio. To begin constructing, we use two lines perpendicular to either end of a line segment and two circles to give us the necessary points to construct a square (Fig. 4). We then add the midpoint of one side of this square, a circle, and several rays to form our two Golden Rectangles, ACHJ and EHJB (Fig. 5).

Fig. 4

Fig. 5 For this rectangle to indeed be Golden, EH must be in the correct ratio to CE, as CE is the same

length as EB. We will assume that he length of CE is 2. It then follows that EH must have a length of

51 , as

2 1 5 = . To prove that EH is indeed 2 51

51 , we could construct a triangle, GBE.

We know the length of the legs of GBE to be 1 and 2 from our prior assumption that CE is 2. We can then easily calculate that the hypotenuse of GBE, and the radius of our circle, must be length of EH is equal to the length of GH ( needed.

. The

) minus the length of GE (1), giving us

51 , as we

Part 3 The Golden Ratio is a curiosity that is scattered throughout our daily lives. Commonplace items such as credit cards and 3 x 5 note cards have dimensions that are very close to the Golden Ratio. There are less obvious occurrences, too, such as the ratio of a kilometer to a mile (about 1.6) and the ratio of the lengths of a series of bones in the human hand.

Conclusion We have successfully constructed a division of a line segment into the Golden Ratio and a Golden Rectangle. As we discovered in class, the number of useful calculations and constructions one can find during the exploration of the Golden Ratio is astounding. The complexity of something so seemingly simple as the bisection of a line is absolutely remarkable. So is it by chance that we are surrounded by Golden Ratios and Rectangles? I believe our Creator's hand is behind this far more often than we know. We know from biological study that God uses a similar blueprint to make many things, such as DNA to form the blueprints of all life on earth. What I conclude from this is that phenomena like the Golden Ratio likely appear far more often than we even realize. I believe that someday we will marvel at the incredible degrees of order and design that our Creator has used to form His creation.

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