PHI (1.618), The perfect ratio

Reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code reminded me of that 'perfect' number. A few years back I remembered watching a documentary on Discovery channel on the theory behind a beautiful face. What's the theory? PHI.

In Da Vincci Code, Dan gave a few examples. If you measure from the top of your head to your belly button (A), and then from your belly button to your toes (B), you will find B is 0.618% longer than A. You can try measuring your arm too, from the shoulders to the elbow, elbow to the tip of your fingers.

So how does this apply to the face? Well it's hard to explain it in text so you will have to see some pictures. According to the documentary, when measuring the distances and gaps on the face (or the human body I presume) the more 1.618 ratio makes one more beautiful. It's weird when you put beauty on scales... you'll get 1.618. Then again it's not all about PHI.

According to a research done, the more symmetric a person is, the more attractive the person. There's a bit of truth in that actually. Just imagine a normal face, and one with one eye larger than the other. The one with the symmetric face would be more attractive.

The documentary also interviewed a plastic surgeon who use this PHI theory to actually 'redesign' faces. The more symmetric and the more PHI'ish the better. He also took Tom Cruise and Liz Hurley's picture and drew all the PHI lines all over them; it does show that their eyes, noses and mouths are all on\almost on the PHI lines.

There are more interesting facts for you to discover in Da Vinci Code. Go read the book. If you think it's some boring book about art and science, well I bet you my next pay cheque that it is not. Suspense gila! I love the book! Rating 9\10