Virgil's Aenid and the Golden Ratio

The Myth:

Virgil's Aenid exhibits use of the golden ratio in its design.


The Reality:

This myth originates with the work of Duckworth in which a comparison of the number of lines in "Major" and "minor" passages is made. Unfortunately, this work is an example of the m/M versus M/(m+M) fallacy seen in the sonatas of Mozart, the reasons are well documented in [Mar92].


References:


[Mar92] George Markowsky, Misconceptions about the golden ratio, The College Mathematics Journal 23 (1992), no. 1, 2–19.


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