The first English translation of Ghyka’s masterwork on sacred geometry • Reveals how the Golden Number Phi underlies the spiritual nature of beauty and the hidden harmonies that connect the whole of creation • Explains how the spiritual mysteries of the Golden Number were passed down in an unbroken line of transmission from the Pythagorean brotherhoods through the medieval builders’ guilds to the secret societies of 18th-century Europe The Golden Number, or Phi (Φ), is a geometric ratio found throughout nature, often underlying the dimensions of objects considered especially beautiful. Simplified as 1.618 and symbolized by the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Number represents the unique relationship within an object where the ratio of a larger part to a smaller part is the same as the ratio of the whole to the larger part. It appears in the proportions of the human face and body as well as in the proportions of animals, plants, and celestial bodies. Called the divine proportion by the monk Fra Luca Pacioli, whose book on the subject was illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci, Phi’s use in art and architecture goes back at least to the mystical mathematics of Pythagoras and his followers in the sixth century BCE. The perfect synthesis of spiritual and material, it can be found in the measurements of the sacred temples of Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Medieval and Renaissance Europe. The asymptotic series of integers that define Phi represent the macrocosm and microcosm as portrayed in Plato’s concept of the world soul. Presenting Matila Ghyka’s classic treatise on the Golden Number for the first time in English, this book reveals the many ways this ratio can be found not only in the organic forms of nature--such as in the spirals of shells or the number of petals on a flower--but also in the most beautiful and highest creations of humanity. One of the most important concepts of sacred geometry, its mysteries were passed down in an unbroken line of transmission from the Pythagorean brotherhoods through the medieval builders’ guilds to the secret societies of 18th-century Europe. Ghyka shows how the secrets of this divine proportion were not sought merely for their value in architecture, painting, and music, but also as a portal to a deeper understanding of the spiritual nature of beauty and the hidden harmonies that connect the whole of creation.

In this invaluable book, the basic mathematical properties of the golden ratio and its occurrence in the dimensions of two- and three-dimensional figures with fivefold symmetry are discussed. In addition, the generation of the Fibonacci series and generalized Fibonacci series and their relationship to the golden ratio are presented. These concepts are applied to algorithms for searching and function minimization. The Fibonacci sequence is viewed as a one-dimensional aperiodic, lattice and these ideas are extended to two- and three-dimensional Penrose tilings and the concept of incommensurate projections. The structural properties of aperiodic crystals and the growth of certain biological organisms are described in terms of Fibonacci sequences.

"California's symbols, facts, landscapes, and history are introduced using numbers. Each subject is introduced with a poem, followed by more detailed information. Topics include volcanoes, presidios, the desert tortoise, frogs, and monarch butterflies"--Provided by publisher.

With one pair of scissors, two brushes, three jars of paint, four balls of yarn, and five crayons Pup makes six birds, seven monster masks, eight elephants, and nine pigs, while his mother makes him ten cookies

This survey of the use of Fibonacci and Lucas numbers and the ancient principle of the Golden Section covers areas relevant to operational research, statistics, and computational mathematics. 1989 edition.

From zero to infinity, The Book of Numbers is a handy-sized volume which opens up a new realm of knowledge. Where else in one place could you find out how the illegal numbers racket worked, what makes some people see numbers as colours, why the standard US rail gauge exactly matches the axle width of an ancient Roman chariot, and the numerological connection between Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden?