Spiral16 gets its name from the golden ratio – a mathematical constant of approximately 1.6180339887. It is also referred to as the golden mean, golden number and golden section. Expressed as an equation, the ratio looks like this:
Due to its aesthetically pleasing value, the golden ratio has been used since the Renaissance in art. Da Vinci’s the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa are two famous examples. The ratio’s use in architecture dates back as far as the Egyptian pyramids and the Greek Acropolis.
The ratio is directly related to the Fibonacci sequence.
The Fibonacci sequence is an unending series of numbers where each term in the series is defined by the sum of its two predecessors (assuming that 0 precedes the initial number of 1): 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…
If you divide a Fibonacci number by its immediate predecessor, the answer is approximately 1.6180339887. For example: 13/8 = 1.625
In the 18th century, Charles Bonnet discovered that the phyllotaxis (arrangement of leaves, stems, and branches) of plants are usually spirals of two series of the Fibonacci sequence. This natural spiral gives the company the first part of its name.
The numerical ratio is part of the algorithm that drives our virtualization software. So, we lopped off the extended decimals and went with Spiral1.6, which eventually morphed into Spiral16.
And that’s the rest of the story…