From Shelley Esaak,
Your Guide to Art History.
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Definition:

(noun) - Golden Ratio is a term (with an astounding number of aliases) used to describe aesthetically pleasing proportioning within a piece. (There is, in fact, a mathematical formula with which one can calculate Golden Ratio. Please see the links at right for information on such, from those who are less right-brained than your Guide.)

All math aside, some unknown genius figured out (millenia ago) that, in a work of art or architecture, if one maintained a ratio of small elements to larger elements that was the same as the ratio of larger elements to the whole, the end result was extraordinarily pleasing to the eye. This ratio is a common theme in sacred geometry world-wide.

Pronunciation: goal·den ray·show

Also Known As: golden section, golden proportion, golden mean, phi ratio, sacred cut, divine proportion