Golden Mean or Golden Section, golden mean or golden section - A proportional relation (ratio) obtained by dividing a line so that the shorter part is to the longer part as the longer part is to the whole. Another way to describe this: a proportion between the two dimensions of a plane figure or the two divisions of a line, in which the ratio of the smaller to the larger is the same as the ratio of the larger to the whole: a ratio of approximately 0.618 to 1.0

The Golden Mean produces a harmonic effect called eurythmy found in nature as well as in a wide variety of works of art and design. Artists of various periods and cultures have found that dimensions determined by this formula are aesthetically appealing.

Other images of the Golden Mean:

The Parthenon, Athens, superimposed with a diagram demonstrating the use of the Golden Mean in the Parthenon's design. See architecture and Greek art.

Architect Charles E. Jeanneret, known as "Le Corbusier" (French, 1887-1965), often used golden rectangles in his designs for buildings. One of these is the United Nations building in New York. The proportions of its vertical and horizontal dimensions correspond to the Golden Mean. Distinctive marks dividing this face do so as well. See architect.

• "The Greek painter Zeuxis is known to have taken pupils in the 5th century BC, and another, Pamphilos, had a school of painting at Sikyon. It is likely that his pupils would have been instructed in drawing, geometry, symmetry and the golden section, as well as in a canon of proportion."
  G. Rubens: 'Art education', Grove Art Online, Oxford University Press, Accessed 21 March 2005. See drawing, geometry, proportion, and symmetry.

• The Golden Section in Art and Architecture.

Also see aspect ratio, composition, Fibonacci Sequence, helix, mathematics and art, measurement, spiral, and volute.

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