The truth about the golden ratio

The golden ratio can be simply defined by the quadratic equation of which it is one of the roots. But its multiple geometric and arithmetic properties made it a mystical object at certain times. Discovered in ancient constructions or in our natural environment, it has even, under the name "divine proportion", been considered as the aesthetic canon of works of art, or even, since the Pythagoreans, as proof of the harmony of the world. This feature aims to place it back in an objective universe by separating the mathematical constructions, how clever they are, that it has allowed, from the deliriums of which it has sometimes been the object.

Why would mathematics escape the ninth art? Comics are full of slightly zany scientists like Tryphon Tournesol, Professor Nimbus or the scholar Cosinus, sometimes inspired by famous scientists. Whether it's to tackle a character, a concept or a story, the graphic form adapts wonderfully to mathematical representations. Another approach, that of constrained drawings, is explored by the Oubapo, Ouvroir de bande dessinée potentielle. Let yourself be seduced by this teeming universe and discover the work of three iconic contemporary artists whom mathematics leaves unmoved: Marc-Antoine Mathieu, Midam and Étienne Lécroart.