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Part 2 - Why Rajasthan Built Cities Around Wells

When British officers began travelling through Rajasthan in the nineteenth century, they expected to find forts, palaces, and temples. Instead, they found entire structures built below ground. At places like Abhaneri, hundreds of stone steps descended deep into the earth. Some were larger than many buildings above them. To modern eyes, they looked almost impossible. Why would anyone invest so much effort in architecture that was largely hidden from view? The answer was water. For centuries, communities across western India faced a problem that remains familiar today: long dry seasons and unreliable rainfall. Their solution was the stepwell. In western India, stepwells became an essential response to hot, semi-arid conditions and unreliable rainfall, allowing communities to store monsoon water for use throughout the dry season.  Known variously as baoris, baolis, vavs, or vapis, these structures collected monsoon water and kept it accessible throughout the long dry months of the yea...

COMMON MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS USED IN ARCHITECTURE

FIBONACCI SERIES

Leonardo of Pisa (c. 1170  – c. 1250), also known as Fibonacci, was a medieval mathematician. As well as popularising the Arabic numeral system in Europe (at the time, Roman numerals were still used), he published a book called Liber Abaci , which contained the first mention of the mathematical sequence that bears his name. The Fibonacci sequence is one which starts with 0 and 1, and continues by adding the previous two numbers to get the next number in the sequence.

Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio
Fibonacci series
Photo by: MicroOne

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence, called the Fibonacci sequence, and characterized by the fact that every number after the first two is the sum of the two preceding ones: 

0,1,1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13, 21, 34, 55, 89

8 divided by 5 is   1.6  

13 divided by 8 is 1.625  

21 divided by 13 is 1.61538 

34 divided by 21 is 1.61904 

55 divided by 34 is  1.61764 

GOLDEN RATIO

Golden section
Golden ratio
Photo by: Rafael Javier

Many artists, philosophers and architects over the centuries, from the ancient Greeks onwards, have believed that the proportions of the Golden Ratio are uniquely beautiful and pleasing to the eye.  In other words, the rectangle above looks more beautiful than one where the longer side is twice the length of the shorter side, or so it is said.  

The Parthenon, Athens
Photo by: Adrian Balea


Many of the artists and architects have even gone so far as to claim that these proportions were ordained by God; hence they are sometimes referred to as the Divine Ratio.

o In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0,

(a+b/a)=a/b=phiϕ

where the Greek letter phi Ï• represents the golden ratio. 

o It is an irrational number with a value of:

(1+5^1/2)/2=1.618

o The golden ratio is also called the golden mean or golden section 

Other buildings that exhibit these proportions include Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral.

Notre Dame, Paris
Photo by: Dyana Wing So 

This system of proportioning also seemingly appears in many works of art, especially from the Renaissance, when there was a resurgence of interest in art and science.   For example, see Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa .

Golden ratio and Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa
Photo by: WikiImages


There are many other examples of this proportioning in the Mona Lisa; her face, for example would fit neatly into a rectangle with sides based on the Golden Ratio. The series of rectangles that you can see superimposed on the Mona Lisa is linked to another aspect of the Golden Ratio, and points up its relationship with Fibonacci. 

 KEPLER TRIANGLE

o A Kepler triangle is a right triangle with edge lengths in geometric progression. 

Kepler and the golden ratio
Kepler Triangle
Photo by: Dreamsidhe

o The ratio of the edges of a Kepler triangle is linked to the golden ratio and can be written 

o 1 : 1.272 : 1.618.= 1: (Ï•^1/2): Ï•

o The squares of the edges of this triangle (see figure) are in geometric progression according to the golden ratio.

Pyramid of Khufu
The Great Pyramid of Giza
Photo by: Pete


Base:hypotenuse (b:a) ratios for pyramids like the Pyramid of Khufu could be: 1:φ (Kepler triangle), 3:5 (3-4-5 triangle), or 1:4/π

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