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The ancient Egyptians built the pyramids with the ratio of the height to the base equal to 1:1.618—The Golden Ratio. The ancient Athenians, those masters of architecture, built the Parthenon with its column configurations and dimensions based upon the Golden Ratio. We looked last week at several examples from nature that satisfy the Golden Ratio as well: the facial features of people that society generally deems “attractive” is one fascinating aspect of the Golden Ratio. In a sense, facial recognition technology can be thought of as a method that analyzes how much a person’s facial proportions deviate from the Golden Ratio. In fact, Leonardo da Vinci painted portraits using the Golden Ratio; the Mona Lisa is a fine example. And it is not just facial features, the Golden Ratio is present in a rose as well as many other flower petals and leaf configurations, and it is present in all sorts of seashells such as the Nautilus. But these are all tangible, concrete forms of soul food. What about the semi-abstract world of music? I say semi-abstract because although you can see music on paper, the notes played and traveling through the air are essentially abstract, they linger in the air just for a moment then they are gone . . . abstract.
