From: Darrell Parfitt (eng5dgp@titan.vcu.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 19 1997 - 09:02:14 MDT
On 19 Sep 1997, Anders Sandberg wrote:
> CALYK@aol.com writes:
>
> > i think yall would be interested in this site: www.zometool.com
> >
> > They sell a structural system based on the Golden Mean. Its amazing how they
> > all fit together. Its a great way to explore math and geometry. I have a
> > set. Its awesome.
>
> I agree. I really want one set! (I always found the square symmetry
> of lego limiting)
>
> Although I think calling it sacred geometry evokes associations with
> crop circles and pyramidology it is not far from the point. The
> golden mean (phi, ~1.61) (which appears naturally in the 2.3.5 symmetry
> group) is a very fundamental constant of nature, in some sense it is
> the "most important simple irrational number" (yes, it beats
> sqrt(2)) and crops up everywhere. My favorite is the fact that
> the winding number of the last KAM-torus to dissolve as a
> hamiltonian system grows more chaotic has a winding number of
> phi (this is beacuse it is "the most irrational of the irrational
> numbers"; rational approximations to phi converge the slowest of
> all approximations).
>
I have the understanding that the golden mean is very important to
music because it relates to the natural resonance of sound inside the
human skull, but I'd be interested in finding out more from a neurologist.
Darrell Parfitt
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