phi - the beauty ratio

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

There is more on this ratio, irrational number rather. According to this Discovery Channel (or was it BBC??) programme, this ratio governs our perception of beauty. The ratio of the width of the nose to that of the mouth; the chin to that between the cheeks, length of nose to that of the face all come close to this ratio. the closer it is the more beautiful we see the person as. Infact, doctors have constructed the perfect beauty mask based on this ratio and elizabeth hurley who was one of the presenters fits in quite nicely.

and speaking of cable channels, why don;t you guys start one??

2

Yes, it was the BBC. But they didn’t show a relationship closer than 10% or so, and in any case there’s a reason for the relative sizes of the sections of our limbs in particular which has nothign to do with beauty - strength. Having each section slighlty larger than the one below distributes leverage and power throughout the whole arm.