The Golden Ratio Demystified
Greek Cultural Garden in Cleveland
August 19, 2023
The Greek Cultural Garden hosted a Lecture Series in the summer of 2023 showcasing some of the great thoughts from Greek cultural luminaries. On August 19, 2023 the topic was Demystifying the Golden Ratio and it was presented by math professor Athanasious Sarantopoulus.
Lou Frangos, president of the Greek Cultural Garden Association, welcomed the crowd and introduced Dr. Wael Khoury, president of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation.
Lou Frangos
Dr. Wael Khoury and Lou Frangos
Lou then introduced Hellenic Preservation Society president Jonathan Cambouris.
Jonathan Cambouris
Jonathan introduced Athanasious Sarantopoulus for the lecture.
Athanasious Sarantopoulus
Essentially, in mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. It's usually denoted by the Greek letter phi and is an irrational number with a value of about 1.618.
What makes it interesting is, as Athan explained, the principles and applications of the Golden Ratio, and the interconnectedness of art and science.
This led to a discussion of the Fibonacci sequence as well. Athan used examples from architecture such as the Parthenon, art - the Mona Lisa, and nature - sea shells and even the Milky Way Galaxy.
After some Q&A from the audience, Sophia (Thrasivoulou) Johnson, VP of the Hellenic Preservation Society thanked the crowd.
Sophia (Thrasivoulou) Johnson
Before dispersing, the crowd discussed the lecture, enjoyed some baklava and posed for photos.
Pythagorean Theorem t-shirt
Hellenic Preservation Society board members
Watch a video of the introductions and the Golden Ratio lecture from the Greek Cultural Garden.
