The golden ratio is found throughout nature.
In nature, there are inherent similarities and patterns found in a plethora of life, spanning plant and animal kingdoms. Despite scale we see the same proportions in such things as arrangement of leaves in plants, patterns of the florets on a flower, the bracts of a pinecone, or the scales of a pineapple. It is seen in the cochlea of the inner ear, the shell of the chambered Nautilus and the proportions in the sections of a human finger or ratio of a hand to forearm. The size of a natural phenomena is no object, as we see the same proportions in the spiral cloud formations of hurricanes or the spiral arms of some galaxies.
Nature’s numbering system is known as Fibonacci numbers or in some cases, the golden spiral, golden ratio or golden number. The Golden Ratio, and is often represented by the Greek letter Φ (Phi). The equation is: a + b/a = a/b = Φ ≈ 1.625. The Fibonacci sequence is as simple as 1 + 1 = 2, 2 + 1 = 3, 3 + 2 = 5, 5 + 3 = 8, and so on. The resulting sequence of prime numbers is this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…
Why does this phenomena occur? In phyllotaxis (leaf arrangement), it may be related to maximizing the space for each leaf, or the average amount of light falling on each one. Even a small advantage would dominate over the course of many generations due to the evolutionary process. Yet the same golden ratio appears in many aspects of life, across various species who share only a small percentage of similar DNA.
Some may attribute such a recurring sequence to be part of a natural law, yet to be understood, or even as proof of divine creation. Who can say for certain what the number really represents. All we know for sure is the ratio, seemingly a fundamental law of nature, is found in many forms of natural phenomena regardless of size.
