Honors

These two articles were about the golden ratio (GR) being used widely. The GR is supposedly used widely throughout history to construct structures ranging from music to architecture. The first article, The Myth That Will Not Go Away, it talks about how the GR is used in many things but writers use it to much for myths that are not really there. The author talks about humans being made from the GR is just a myth it is just coincidence we sometimes end up fitting into the ratio.  The second article, Did Mozart Use the Golden Section?, was about Mozart composing his pieces using the GR. It conspires that because Mozart was also a mathematician who used the GR to compose his pieces. At the end though it shows that Mozart did not use math to compose his music but his music ability.

Response:

These two articles brought to my attention that there is a golden ratio. I honestly did not know that it was this big of an issue. I had heard some of the stories but did not know it was such a hot topic through out so many fields. I do not think the GR is a big problem as its said to be but I can see where people could take it as a topic on which to base myths off of. Who does not like a good myth? So bringing the element of math into it helps to make it more believable. Mathematics is a proven thing that is usually true and can be proved many times over. Music is something that almost every culture has either for communication, entertainment, or for recording history. I enjoy music, I see math in it through counting measures and the length of notes. I did not know that there may be a ratio involved with it. Overall, I am just astonished that people can take conspiracies as far as they have. Saying that Mozart’s fame and music ability came through a ratio is just down right crazy.