Do you think Maths is Sexy? What if I said a+b is to a, as a is to b? That float your boat? No? Perhaps you should read on.
In our relentless search for ways of measuring things throughout history, its no wonder many smart people have tried to measure beauty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but why is it that most people would rate Megan Fox 10/10? There may be disputes about which famous people are more or less attractive, but they’re all generally recognised as universally beautiful.
From Pythagoras to da Vinci, time and time again the golden ratio kept coming up. It allows a+b to be to a as a is to b, or 1:1.618. There are many properties to the golden ratio – it is mathematically very pure. And sexy, oh so sexy.
Go online and there are tonnes of examples of where the golden ratio occurs. Wikipedia talks about how it has been used and admired throughout the ages by artists and smart people. (However, according to the Wikipedia entry about Wikipedia, “critics of Wikipedia … [question] its reliability and accuracy”, so look elsewhere for your essay references, young first years). Dolphins, flowers, DNA, the solar system, music, and even not so beautiful things like the stock market all have been given the golden ratio treatment.
I first came across the golden ratio whilst watching the fascinating BBC series The Human Face.
In Part Three: Survival of the Prettiest, The Human Face tells the fairytale story of Dr Stephen R Marquardt. In his search for beauty, like all good beasts, he conducted an international study searching for the secrets to beauty. He’s a plastic surgeon – but mainly for reconstruction and stuff. Anyway, in the international survey he got people to rank photos of women from hottest to nottest.
To his surprise, in his photos he had found his beauty. And his second most beauty, and third most beauty and so on. Ninety-seven percent of people in his study ranked the ladies exactly the same—no matter whether they were from the USA or China.
After some soul searching, some more plastic surgery, and probably heaps of research—which is always time well spent—he stumbled upon the key to beauty—1:1.618. Not only is it found all throughout nature, but also throughout the human body. So, so sexy.
A well proportioned person will likely have their waist to the top of their head 1.618 times their waist to the floor. If the distance between the end of your finger and your first knuckle is 1, then the distance between your first knuckle and your second is 1.618. And so on.
So, in his wisdom, Dr Marquardt decided to apply this rule to the face. He developed, and patented, a facial mask that was made using the ratio 1:1.618 all over the show. And he found that it fit beautiful peoples’ faces real good.
Their lips are 1.618 times the width of their noses. Their noses form golden triangles, made from the same ratio. And so on, and so on and so on. And it works for men’s faces too!
And thus, Dr Marquardt developed a facial mask that can be used to determine how beautiful you are. Or to be used in Photoshop to make you look hotter.
Dr Marquardt had found his beauty, in whoever he gave plastic surgery to.
So you don’t believe maths hold the secret to sexiness? Just search the magical world of the internet—you might be surprised what you find!