My math class has been working on the golden ratio (1.61803398875), and our assignment was to show how math is used in art to create patterns and appeal to our sense of aesthetics. For my math project, I decided to choose a more original way of showing my understanding of the golden ratio by making a survey.

I took pictures of six different shells that were approximately the same size, from the same angles and in the same place. Two of these six shells had the golden ratio, so I wanted to find out whether people would be more attracted to those shells when they have to choose. I separated the pictures into two groups of three shells, with one golden ratio shell in each group. I then showed 10 of my classmates (5 girls and 5 boys) these pictures and got them to choose.

All of the pictures and diagrams below have been revised to be larger than my original project. Click here to see the revisions I have made.

I found out that the majority of people thought that the shells with the golden ratio were the most visually appealing. To prove that those two shells have the golden ratio, I drew the lines of the golden ratio overtop of the swirls on the shells. These swirls represent the pattern that the golden ratio makes.

The next thing I did was put the data from the survey into pie charts to show that the majority of my classmates liked the golden ratio shells the best. Shell #2 represents the golden ratio shell in the first survey. In the second survey, shell #3 is the golden ratio shell.

As soon as I was about one week away from the deadline for this project, I got a my classmate, Claire, to give me a peer critique.

Once I finished my project, I showed it to my class and was given a critique straight away from my teacher. In the feedback, I was given a great mark for all of the elements of the project except for the aesthetics. I was told to revise my project by cropping my pictures so that they are easier to see. After doing these revisions, I used the revised images in this blog post.

In conclusion, I proved that people are more attracted to shells that have the golden ratio than they are to shells without. While proving this, I also showed what the golden ratio looks like and which shells have it.