Draw a rectangle in the proportions of the golden ratio, then draw consecutively smaller 'golden rectangles' within it and join diagonal corners with an arc. The result is a perfect snail shell.

But the golden ratio is more urban legend than secret key to the universe; it doesn't describe a snail's shell, the Parthenon, the pyramids or beautiful faces, as popular belief would have it. The ...

6. Shells The unique properties of the Golden Rectangle provides another example. This shape, a rectangle in which the ratio of the sides a/b is equal to the golden mean (phi), can result in a ...

Starting with the observation that shell spirals are logarithmic spirals, many people automatically assume that, because the golden ratio can be used to draw a logarithmic spiral, all shell ...