Re: [Paddlewise] Golden Ratio and Greenland Paddle

From: Joyce Family <tfj4_at_comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 20:09:21 -0600
Duane wrote:
>  If you divide the length of the blade by the length of the loom, the
ratio is 1.7, which isn't the golden ratio of 1.618, but it's not far, and
anthropomorphic sizing is only an approximation.

The reason this works out approximately is that in a typical GP, the length
of the loom and the length of the blade very roughly reproduce your
shoulder-to-shoulder and your shoulder-to-hand measurements, which, very
roughly, can be used to derive the golden mean.  Those dimensions were among
many quantities in the idealized human form that Da Vinci used to derive the
golden mean.   Sometimes there is a reason why the golden mean pops up, and
sometimes it's coincidence.  I don't know if anyone has explained that the
Da Vinci proportions are anything more than the latter.

Tom
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Received on Sun Mar 13 2005 - 18:08:17 PST

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