The Divine Proportion: A Study in Mathematical Beauty

Is there a natural aesthetic which corresponds to a universal order? If so, where is it manifested? What is its application to art, and what importance can it have for the scientist or laymany Is it a conscious or unconscious phenomenon, and what is the nature of the psyche that plays host to it? What is the ‘true’ significance of the triangle, rectangle, or spiral? What is the relationship between aesthetics and mathematics? These are but a few of the questions that H. E. Huntley discusses in a non-technical book that is an important step in the attempt to relate mathematics, and science in general, to the everyday thinking of people in our complex society. Using simple mathematical formulas, most as basic as Pythagoras’ theorem and requiring only a very limited knowledge of mathematics, Professor Huntley explores the fascinating relationship between geometry and aesthetics. Poetry, patterns like Pascal's triangle, philosophy, psychology, music, and dozens of simple mathematical figures are enlisted to show that the “divine proportion” or “golden ratio” is a feature of geometry and analysis which awakes answering echoes in the human psyche. When we judge a work of art aesthetically satisfying, according to his formulation, we are making it conform to a pattern whose outline is laid down in simple geometrical figures; and it is the analysis of these fhgures which forms the core of Professor Huntley's book. For the philosopher, scientist, poet, art historian, music listener, artist, as well as the general reader who wants to understand more about the fascinating properties of numbers, this is a beautifully written, exciting account of the search for a naturally manifested aesthetic that has occupied man since he first asked the question “why?”