Activity 6: The "Golden Rectangle"

The Ancient Greeks, in their architecture and in their art, used the notion of 'perfect' proportions. This was based on what was described as the proportions of the 'perfect' rectangle. If you could visualise what you think the 'perfect' rectangle shape looks like it would probably be similar to this one:

This shape, known as the 'Golden Rectangle' can be found in both ancient and modern buildings e.g. the front of the Parthenon in Athens. The United Nations building in New York is made up of three Golden Rectangles.

Get your friends to draw on a piece of paper what they consider to be the perfect rectangle.
Collect these, measure them, divide the length of each by the width and then complete this table:

Friend	Length	Width	Length/Width

Do you notice anything?