Display Standard - Veritas et Visus

Veritas et Visus Display Standard February 2009
De Divina Proportione
The evolution of aspect ratios…
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by Mark Fihn
In the past 30 days, I’ve received four unrelated inquires about the current trend in the PC industry toward 16:9
aspect ratios as opposed to 16:10 aspect ratios. Since I’ve spent an enormous amount of time and energy over the
past few years studying display-related aspect ratios, and since I was personally involved in the creation of the
16:10 aspect ratio, I decided to write a detailed article about much of what I’ve learned about aspect ratios.
Aspect ratios before displays: Long before electronic displays, there was a long scientific inquiry into aspect
ratios, (which simply is the width of an image divided by its height). Centuries of experimentation and scientific
inquiry have come and gone to help identify the optimal sizes for many media – including paper sizes, newsprint,
books, paintings, windows, etc. Different aspect ratios have emerged in different regions of the world for different
needs, technologies, and usage environments.
There is a long history of inquiry related to the optimal aspect ratio for the human visual system – trying to identify
the best solutions for how we view images. Before we had TVs and computer monitors, visual artists spent
hundreds, even thousands of years experimenting with solutions to most pleasantly put paint to canvas.
Interestingly, there is a considerable amount of evidence which suggests the art world has long identified something
very close to the current “wide” aspect ratio that is being largely used by both the PC and CE industry in today’s
displays.
The Golden Ratio: The golden ratio is often denoted by the Greek letter ϕ (phi). In simplest terms, the Golden
Ratio occurs when point C divides the line in such a way that the ratio of AC to CB is equal to the ratio of AB to
AC. The algebra (dating back to the time of Euclid and Pythagoras) shows that the ratio of AC to CB is equal to the
irrational number 1.6180339887…(precisely half the sum of 1 and
the square root of 5). Expressed algebraically, the equation has as
its unique positive solution the algebraic irrational number:
For at least 500 years now, physicists have suggested that the
Golden Ratio translates to the most aesthetically beautiful
appearance for the human visual system. A golden rectangle is a
rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio. A distinctive
feature of this shape is that when a square section is removed, the
remainder is another golden rectangle; that is, with the same
proportions as the first. Square removal can be repeated infinitely,
in which case corresponding corners of the squares form an infinite
sequence of points on the golden spiral, the unique logarithmic
spiral with this property.
According to astrophysicist and math popularizer Mario Livio,
since the publication of Luca Pacioli's De Divina Proportione,
when “with Pacioli's book, the Golden Ratio started to become
available to artists in theoretical treatises that were not overly mathematical, that they could actually use”. Many
artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the form of the golden rectangle, which has
been considered aesthetically pleasing. The proportions of the golden rectangle have been observed in works
predating Pacioli's publication. Beginning in the Renaissance, a body of literature on the aesthetics of the golden
ratio has developed. As a result, architects, artists, book designers, and others have been encouraged to use the
Golden Ratio in the dimensional relationships of their works.