Divine Number the Reason?

[Solar]

Mathmeticians point to phi, the number of the divine proportion.

Phi is: 1.618

Phi is said to appear in:
The proportions of the human body;
The proportions of many other animals;
Plants;
DNA;
The solar system;
Art and architecture;
Music;
Population growth;
The stock market;
The Bible and in theology.

The Greeks recognized it as a"dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio", and reportedly built the pleasing lines of the Parthenon upon its 1.618 ratio.

The Renaissance artists knew it as the Divine Proportion and used it for beauty and balance in the design of architecture and used it for beauty and balance in the design of art, even giving balance to Da Vinci's "Last Supper" (see below).

It was used in the design of Notre Dame in Paris (see below)

Is the Rolex sport line designed with the use of Phi as the common denominator to create curves, balances and forms that are just pleasing to the eye? Another post recently made me think this, since the poster said he can look at his Rolex a thousand times, and never get tired of its lines. Me neither. So are the Rolex designers more clever than that?

Or is it just simple good luck on jewellry and timepieces?

Gotta stop reading mathmatical history.......................

Chris

[f16570]

You do realise we will all be measuring our watches and our respective spouses will think we are nuttier than ever
Thanks for posting.

f

[Solar]

Yep, plastic calipers, muttering to ourselves, working out figures with a sudden, shouted:

"Its 1.618!!!"

Yikes.

Pray fer me...............

Chris

[dfn8tly]

Chris;

I don't in any way dispute your premise regarding mathematical proportion. However, my understanding is:

Phi is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.

Pi is equal to 3.14159265+

Where did you get 1.618?

Am I confused?

[rjw0501]

Originally Posted by Solar

Mathmeticians point to phi, the number of the divine proportion.

Phi is: 1.618

Phi is said to appear in:
The proportions of the human body;
The proportions of many other animals;
Plants;
DNA;
The solar system;
Art and architecture;
Music;
Population growth;
The stock market;
The Bible and in theology.

The Greeks recognized it as a"dividing a line in the extreme and mean ratio", and reportedly built the pleasing lines of the Parthenon upon its 1.618 ratio.

The Renaissance artists knew it as the Divine Proportion and used it for beauty and balance in the design of architecture and used it for beauty and balance in the design of art, even giving balance to Da Vinci's "Last Supper" (see below).

It was used in the design of Notre Dame in Paris (see below)

Is the Rolex sport line designed with the use of Phi as the common denominator to create curves, balances and forms that are just pleasing to the eye? Another post recently made me think this, since the poster said he can look at his Rolex a thousand times, and never get tired of its lines. Me neither. So are the Rolex designers more clever than that?

Or is it just simple good luck on jewellry and timepieces?

Gotta stop reading mathmatical history.......................

Chris

With all the lines that are on the pictures, it looks like you could make phi just about out of anything.

[Tareg]

Phi is also known as the golden ratio which is hard to explain by text...

Basically if you divide a line into two there's a unique proportion of the two lengths where the ratio of the whole line to the larger of the lengths, is the same as the larger length to the smaller length...

........................./.............
a b

so (a+b)/a = a/b

that ratio is unique and is 1.618.....

this ratio's found a lot in nature including sea shells and other patterns that are found in nature and historically this ratio has been used in classical architecture.

i doubt that it has been used for the rolex sports models however!!! something with an eccentric dial like glashutte or frank muller would come to mind

[Solar]

Or the Zenith Extreme!


Sorry, I should have said Divine Ratio. It is a ratio, as Tariq correctly points out.

Maybe the lug width is a ratio of the case diameter using the Golden Ratio.

Or not............

Chris

[Rawhyde]

Solar. have you been reading The Da Vinci Code? The divine propprtion is discussed at length in that book.

[Tools]

Mmmmmmmm..

I love phi..

[Ken Cox]

Fibonacci's series:

1 + 1 = 2

1 + 2 = 3

2 + 3 = 5

3 + 5 = 8

5 + 8 = 13

8 + 13 = 21

13 + 21 = 34

21 + 34 = 55

======

55 / 34 = 1.61764...

======

34 + 55 = 89

======

89 / 55 = 1.61818...

======

If one then takes each successive number and divides it by the preceding number in the series, he will get a number that alternates above and below 1.618, ever getting closer but never arriving.

======

Some other interesting things:

In the equation x^2 = x + 1, only phi satisfies x.

In other words, 1.618 squared equals 2.618.

In a pentagram, or a five-pointed star, each long arm of the five triangles describing the five points corresponds to one, and the short arm corresponds to .618, so that, from point to point, the long way across the star, a five-pointed star equals 2.618 units.

In the Great Pyramid of Giza, the height of the pyramid corresponds to the square root of phi, or 1.27272...; the face corresponds to phi, or 1.618; and, half the base, or the whole base of the right triangle describing the height, face and base, corresponds to one.

It goes on an on, and one finds it everywhere in nature.

People try to attach some mystical meaning to it, but I think it represents just another naturally recurring proportion, like the proportion of a circle to its diameter, 3.141592...
We just don't understand it very well, yet.

For further reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

It makes for interesting reading to those so inclined.

[HYDROMAROC]

My head hurts now...