000 02853mam a22003494a 4500
001 3392847
003 ARRUPE
005 20150115121335.0
008 020215s2002 nyua b 001 0 eng
010 _a 2002023084
020 _a0767908155
035 _a(OCoLC)ocm49226115
040 _aDLC
_cDLC
_dUOK
_dJED
_dC#P
_dOrLoB-B
042 _apcc
050 0 0 _aQA466
_b.L58 2002
082 0 0 _a516.2/04
_221
100 1 _aLivio, Mario,
_d1945-
_914009
245 1 4 _aThe golden ratio :
_bthe story of phi, the world's most astonishing number /
_cMario Livio.
250 _a1st ed.
260 _aNew York, NY :
_bBroadway Books,
_c2002.
300 _aviii, 294 p. :
_bill. ;
_c25 cm.
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [269]-277) and index.
520 1 _a"Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887.
520 8 _aThis curious mathematical relationship, widely known as the "Golden Ratio," was defined by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places - from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and the crystals of some materials, to the shapes of galaxies containing billions of stars. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it.
520 8 _aIt is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been suggested that it is connected to the behavior of the stock market!".
520 8 _a"The Golden Ratio is a journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics.
520 8 _aIt tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras, who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as one of the greatest treasures of geometry; such medieval thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Debussy, Le Corbusier, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose.
520 8 _aWherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist."--BOOK JACKET.
650 0 _aGolden section.
_914010
900 _bTOC
942 _2lcc
_cMONOGRAPH
999 _c121688
_d121688