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Article: Golden Section
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- Mathematics
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Golden Section
To understand what constitutes a golden section, consider the top line segment shown on the next page. The line segment has three of its points marked. Point
P
partitions the line segment
AB
into two smaller segments: from left endpoint
A
to point
P
(
AP
), and from
P
to right endpoint
B
(
PB
). The line segments
AP
and
PB
are also shown individually.
A "golden ratio" can now be formed as the ratio of one line segment to another line segment. Point
P
divides the entire line segment
AB
into a golden section if the following equation is valid:
AP/AB = PB/AP.
In other words, the length of line segment
AP
divided by the length of the entire line segment
AB
is a ratio, or ...