Mateo Solano The Golden Ratio & the Human Body Stats 1510 Night

Introduction The Golden Ratio is a number that seems to appear everywhere in nature so much so that it has also been called the Divine Proportion because many believe that this number is all by which nature is governed. It is based on the Fibonacci numbers. These are a series of numbers that begin with 0 and 1 after that you follow the rule of adding the last two numbers to get the next 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987,... and so on. "A special value, closely related to the Fibonacci series, is called the golden section; this value is obtained by taking the ratio of successive terms in the Fibonacci series"(1). The Golden Section is yet another name for the Golden Ratio. The Golden Ratio is denoted by the Greek symbol Phi and can be determined when the measurement of A is added to the measurement of B and divided by the measurement of A giving you (A + B)/A. Phi is equal to approximately 1.61803399. "The Golden Section, also known as Phi, is manifested in the structure of the human body. If the length of the hand has the value of 1, for instance, then the combined length of hand + forearm has the approximate value of Phi." (2) Similarly the proportion of navel to top of head to + shoulder line to top of head is in the same ratio of 1: Phi .The purpose of this research project was to determine if in fact these measurements would result in the ratio of 1:Phi or the Golden Ratio. The measurements were taken from two populations the first was adult males over the age of 18 and the second was adult females over the age of 18. In collecting the data 40 males and 40 females for a total of 80 subjects were measured for the length in inches from the above mentioned areas to establish the two ratios and determine whether those ratios were in fact calculated to be the Golden Ratio. These two sets of data were then compared to each other.

Methods and Materials In collecting the data 40 random males and 40 random females were approached in various locations and asked if they wouldn't mind being measured from their fingertips to the their elbows from their wrist to their elbows and from their shoulder line to the top of their heads and from their navels to the top of their heads. Each subject was measured using a five foot body measuring tape. The results were recorded on paper and transferred into tcstats on an ipad.

Results Neither the males nor the female measurements when calculated using the formula (A + B)/A resulted in the Golden Ratio and although the mean for both male and female ratio # 2 did produce a number close to Phi it was in fact not Phi. Tables 1.1 and 2.1 list the five number summary for each ratio both female and male respectively along with the population standard deviation and sample standard deviation, as well as the sum of all the data for the sample which was equivalent to 40 males and 40 females or n = 40; n being the sample size. Tables 1.2 and 2.2 list the five number summary of female and male respectively for each of the measurements, along with the population standard deviation and sample standard deviation, as well as the sum of all the data for the sample which was equivalent to 40 males and 40 females or n = 40; n being the sample size. The five number summary consists of the minimum data value for each ratio, the Q1 value, such that no more than 25% of all values are smaller and no more than 75% are larger, the mean which is the average and the number that represents the center

point of the data, the Q3 value, such that no more than 75% of all values are smaller and no more than 25% are larger, and finally the maximum value of the data set. As you can see from reading table 1.1 the average for female ratio #1 was 1.415585 which represented the mean of the sum of the measurements from the shoulder line to the top of the head and the navel to the top of the head divided by the length of measurement from the navel to the top of the head. This number was not the Golden Ratio. The same calculation was used to calculate female ratio #2 which was the sum of the measurements from the middle fingertip to the elbow and the wrist to the elbow divided by the length of measurement from the middle finger to the elbow; and as can be read in Table 1.1 the average of the this data set came out to be 1.613727 which again comes close to the numerical value of Phi but is not the Golden Ratio itself. In this research age was not taken into consideration other than the fact that the subjects were considered to be adults if over the age of 18. The only place where the data might have been affected from this would be in the female measurements from the navel to the top of the head as there was a deviation of over one and a half inches. Although even with this deviation the deviation in ratio #1 was very small, the sample standard deviation being 0.03082269. Likewise the deviation in ratio #2 was also very small, 0.0340273.

The same holds true for the male data listed in Tables 2.1 and 2.2. The standard deviation was more than one and a half inches (1.713) from the navel to the top of the head but the overall deviation for the ratio was very small (0.03323601). The male data also when input into the calculation for the Golden Ratio failed to produce Phi as the

result. Also just as in the female data the mean for ratio #2 was numerically close to the Golden Ratio but was in fact not Phi. All of the figures for the male data can be seen in Tables 2.1 and 2.2

A visual representation of the data can be seen in figures 1.1 for and 1.2 for both of the female ratios and 2.1 and 2.3 for the male ratios. Both sets of box and whisker plots show the distribution of data to be symmetrical. The graphs are based on the data from Tables 1.1 and 2.1 for the female and male five number summaries respectively.

Table 1.1

Table 2.1

Table 1.2

Table 2.2

Figure 1.1

Figure 2.1

Appendix

Adult female data

Head to Shoulder Line 10.5 10 11.5 11 11 12 11 10.5 10 11 11 10 12 11 9.5 10 10 11 11 11.5 10.5 11 10.5 11.5 11.5 10.5 10.5 9 10.5 10 11 11.5 10 10 11 10 9.5 10 11 11 Navel to top of Head 26 25.5 27 30.5 26 27.5 25 24 25.5 26 27 26 27 23 25 25 24.5 29 28 25 25.5 25 27 28.5 27 27 23 27 24 25 25 25.5 22.5 25 25 24.5 26.5 24 24.5 26 Female Ratio Finger to #1 Elbow 1.44 1.3922 1.4259 1.3607 1.4231 1.4364 1.44 1.4375 1.3922 1.4231 1.4074 1.3846 1.4444 1.4783 1.38 1.4 1.4082 1.3793 1.3929 1.46 1.4118 1.44 1.3889 1.4035 1.4259 1.3889 1.4565 1.3333 1.4375 1.4 1.44 1.451 1.4444 1.4 1.44 1.4082 1.3585 1.4167 1.449 1.4231 Wrist to Elbow 17.5 16.5 17 17.5 17 17.5 17.5 16.5 17 17.5 15 16 18 15 16 14.5 16.5 15.5 16.5 15.5 14.5 14.5 17.5 17 16.5 17 16 15 16 16.5 16 16.5 16 16 16 16 18 18 16 16.5 11.5 10 10.5 10 11 11 11 10.5 11.5 10 9 10.5 10.5 8.5 9 9 10.5 9 10 9 9.5 9 11 10.5 10.5 11 9.5 10 10 9 9.5 10 9.5 10 9 9 10.5 11.5 10.5 10 Female Ratio # 2 1.6571 1.6061 1.6176 1.5714 1.6471 1.6286 1.6286 1.6364 1.6765 1.5714 1.6 1.6563 1.5833 1.5667 1.5625 1.6207 1.6364 1.5806 1.6061 1.5806 1.6552 1.6207 1.6286 1.6176 1.6364 1.6471 1.5938 1.6667 1.625 1.5455 1.5938 1.6563 1.5938 1.625 1.5625 1.5625 1.5833 1.6389 1.6563 1.6061

Adult male data

Navel to Head 24 25 27 28.5 29 26 27 27 26.5 27 24 26.5 25.5 26 25 24 26 28 27 26.5 25 28 27.5 26.5 26.5 25.5 25 28 28 30 28 27.5 30 23.5 26.5 27.5 29 28.5 28.5 30.5 Head to Shoulder Line 9 10 11 11 9 10 11 11 11.5 12 11 12 10.5 11.5 11 11 11 10 11 11 11.5 12 10.5 10.5 11 11 10 12 12 12 11 11 10.5 11 10.5 11.5 12.5 11 11 11.5 Male Ratio Finger to #1 Elbow 1.375 1.4 1.4074 1.386 1.3103 1.3846 1.4074 1.4074 1.434 1.4444 1.4583 1.4528 1.4118 1.4423 1.44 1.4583 1.4231 1.3571 1.4074 1.4151 1.451 1.4286 1.3818 1.3962 1.4151 1.4314 1.4 1.4286 1.4286 1.4 1.3929 1.4 1.35 1.4681 1.3559 1.4182 1.431 1.386 1.386 1.377 Wrist to Elbow 17.5 17 18 17 18 16.5 18 17 17.5 18.5 18.5 18 16.5 17.5 15.5 17 18.5 18 18 18.5 17 17 16 17 20 17 18.5 18.5 19 18 18 18.5 17 19 18.5 18.5 17 18.5 17 19.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 9.5 11.5 10 11 9.5 10.5 11 11.5 10 9.5 10 11 10 11 11 11 12 11 10.5 10 10 11.5 11 10.5 10 11 11.5 12 11 11.5 12 10 10.5 10.5 10.5 10 12.5 Male Ratio #2 1.6 1.6176 1.5833 1.5588 1.6389 1.6061 1.6111 1.5588 1.6 1.5946 1.6216 1.5556 1.5758 1.5714 1.7097 1.5882 1.5946 1.6111 1.6111 1.6486 1.6471 1.6176 1.625 1.5882 1.575 1.6471 1.5676 1.5405 1.5789 1.6389 1.6667 1.5946 1.6765 1.6316 1.5405 1.5676 1.6176 1.5676 1.5882 1.641