When
the library book first caught my eye, “… the Story of Phi” had me thinking "pi" (pronounced pie, like my favorite – Kay's fresh peach pie.) Yes, today is officially Pi Day (famous ratio
= 3.14…) with bakeries, Pizza Pie Café, and others offering deals on comfort food
I love. And yes, I do get carried away with the thought ...
However,
I wanted to post the relatively unknown phi
(pronounced fee or fai/fie) – “the world’s most astonishing number,” according
to author Mario Livio. Phi is commonly
used to denote the number 1.61803…, known as The Golden Ratio (Livio’s book title, ©2002.) As interchangeable names, he also uses Golden
Section and Golden Number. Livio explains
that the Golden Ratio is an irrational number, meaning it “cannot be expressed
as a fraction (as a rational number) …” It’s
mathematical, but it amazingly applies to art, architecture, botany, photography, human anatomy, psychology,
musical instrument design, and order in the universe. He quotes Pablo Picasso, “Painting isn’t an
aesthetic operation; it’s a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange
hostile world and us.”
Entrance to the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, an unusual wetland.
