Syddansk Universitet Review of "Henning, Herbert: La divina proportione und die Faszination des Schönen oder das Schöne in der Mathematik" Robering, Klaus Published in: Mathematical Reviews Publication date: 2014 Document version Accepted author manuscript Citation for pulished version (APA): Robering, K. (2014). Review of "Henning, Herbert: La divina proportione und die Faszination des Schönen oder das Schöne in der Mathematik". Mathematical Reviews. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 14. Feb. 2017 MR3059375 Henning, Herbert La divina proportione und die Faszination des Sch¨onenoder das Sch¨onein der Mathematik. (German) [The divine proportion and the fascination of beauty or beauty in mathematics] Mitt. Math. Ges. Hamburg 32 (2012), 49{62 00A66 (11B39 51M04) The author points out that there is a special relationship between mathematics and the arts in that both aim at the discovery and presentation of truth and beauty. Since the connection between the rational and the emotive is important for the personality development of young people and at the same time fasci- nating to them, the author suggests to employ the special relationship between mathematics and the arts for the sake of mathematical education by treating topics exemplifying this relation in an intuitive and visual way. As an exam- ple of such a topic the golden ratio is discussed. On the one hand, this topic offers the possibility to deal with a large number of interesting connections be- tween mathematics, natural science, and the arts. On the other hand, it relates to quite a number of mathematical disciplines such as geometry, the theory of numbers, and analysis. After a brief historical account, the author shows how the numerical value µ ≈ 1:680339 ::: of the golden ratio is calculated. Then sev- eral examples from elementary geometry in which the golden ratio plays a role are presented (golden triangles, golden rectangles and the golden spiral, the reg- ular pentagon, and the pentagram). The relationship between the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence is explained and finally the role of this proportion in works of antique and modern art is exemplified by a series of examples. The example of the pentagon leads up to a short discussion of the dodecahedron and the other Platonic solids in section 6 of the article. Their occurrence in ancient science, in Kepler's astronomy, and in the history of art | from the Mannerism of the High Renaissance up to the work of Salvador Dali | is briefly discussed and exemplified by examples. Reviewed by Klaus Robering.