Luca Pacioli

Italian mathematician

Learn about this topic in these articles:

In number game: Fibonacci numbers
… of the 15th-century Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, namely, a/b = b/(a + b), when a < b, by setting x = b/a. In short, dividing a segment into two parts in mean and extreme proportion, so that the smaller part is to the larger part as the larger is to…
Read More
In golden ratio: History
Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli published De divina proportione (1509; “Divine Proportion”), a treatise that celebrated the ratio’s supposed harmony. The book was illustrated by polymath Leonardo da Vinci, whose works have often been analyzed for evidence of golden ratio proportions. German astronomer–mathematician Johannes Kepler, in Harmonices Mundi
Read More
In painting: Principles of design
The Renaissance mathematician Lucas Pacioli defined this aesthetically satisfying ratio as the division of a line so that the shorter part is to the longer as the longer is to the whole (approximately 8 to 13). His treatise (Divina proportione) influenced Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer. The…
Read More