Re: Guideline to save 0 or NULL to a NUMBER column

> Didn't know that. I know the Golden ratio from Architecture and Nature and
> have difficulties seeing where the negative comes in.

One of the definitions of the Golden Ratio is:

Phi^2 = Phi + 1
or
Phi^2 - Phi - 1 = 0

Now solving for Phi (the Golden Ratio) will yield two roots (using the quadratic equation), one positive and the other negative.

For those that are interested, the Golden Ratio has an importance in Architecture and Nature because this ratio is most "pleasing" to the eye. There have been studies which indicated that the Great Pyramids of Egypt are built in such a way that their proportions are equivalent to the Golden Ratio. There have been studies that say that those people who top People's 100 Most Beautiful People, for instance, have a ratio in the length and width of their faces that is the Golden Ratio.

One of my more favorite Golden Ratio uses is how it relates to the Fibonacci Sequence. Everyone should remember programming a Fibonacci function as one of their first programming exercises in recursion. We did an exercise in graduate school where we unfolded the recursive Fibonacci equation. By unfolding the recursion, we were able to come up with a non-recursive formula to compute the Nth number in the Fibonacci sequence for any given N. For large N, the performance of the non-recursive formula, O(1), was much better than the recursive version, O(N^2). Anyway, this non-recursive formula involved what number? The Golden Ratio!

Cheers,
Brian

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Brian Peasland
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