Gustav Fechner, 1865

cf: Berlyne, 1971; p. 222
cf also: Livio, 2002; pp. 179-184.
The golden ratio is an algebraic number ca 1.618. The golden rectangle is one in which the ratio of the the longer to the shorter side is golden. The construction of a golden rectangle is given in Euclid's Elements.

Fechner found in 1865, in one of the very first projects of experimental aesthetics of modern times, that the usual wisdom on the asesthetic of the golden rectangle was not validated. See Livio, esp., Figure 84.


Revised 09 February 2005 by Ralph Abraham, <abraham@vismath.org>