What is #phi#, how was it discovered and are its uses?
A calculator app allowed for the use of #e, pi and phi# , but I wasn't sure what #phi# is mathematically. I think it had a value of roughly #1.6# .
A calculator app allowed for the use of
1 Answer
A few thoughts...
Explanation:
It was known and studied by Euclid (approx 3rd or 4th century BCE), basically for many geometric properties...
It has many interesting properties, of which here are a few...
The Fibonacci sequence can be defined recursively as:
#F_0 = 0#
#F_1 = 1#
#F_(n+2) = F_n + F_(n+1)#
It starts:
#0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987,...#
The ratio between successive terms tends to
#lim_(n->oo) F_(n+1)/F_n = phi#
In fact the general term of the Fibonacci sequence is given by the formula:
#F_n = (phi^n - (-phi)^(-n))/sqrt(5)#
A rectangle with sides in ratio
This is related to both the limiting ratio of the Fibonacci sequence and the fact that:
#phi = [1;bar(1)] = 1+1/(1+1/(1+1/(1+1/(1+1/(1+...)))))#
which is the most slowly converging standard continued fraction.
If you place three golden rectangles symmetrically perpendicular to one another in three dimensional space, then the twelve corners form the vertices of a regular icosahedron. Hence we can calculate the surface area and volume of a regular icosahedron of given radius. See https://socratic.org/s/aFZyTQfn
An isosceles triangle with sides in ratio