Computer “recognizes” beauty through the “Golden Section” of the ancient Greeks

© naftemporiki.gr As Reuters reports, this is a work by Julian da Silva, a plastic surgeon in London, using the “Golden Section” (1.618 – represented by the letter “φ”) of the ancient Greeks.

They say beauty is subjective, however, perhaps a new computer-based face-mapping technique -based on an ancient Greek mathematical concept- is challenging that.

According to Reuters, this is a work by Julian da Silva, a plastic surgeon in London, who uses the “Golden Section” (1,618 – represented by the letter “φ”) of ancient Greeks.

“There is no doubt that there is subjectivity to the concept of beauty, and depending on your culture and nationality, there are different characteristics in terms of what each person calls attractive – but that gives us something that we can use objectively when we look at human faces and we evaluate the levels of attractiveness and beauty,

says da Silva.

The facial mapping technique developed by the plastic surgeon is based on analogies, which are compared to the “Golden Section” (φ):

“We can see the distance between your eyes in relation to their length. We can see the height of the nose in relation to its width.

 Using these different features we can look at different facial features, and taking these different elements into account, we can get an overall ratio. “

The “Golden Section”, which was studied by Euclid, has been used for centuries by artists and architects – however, as Reuters says, da Silva’s patients are unaware of it’s age and history, despite being used to make them look younger.

“We use it every day in terms of a person’s assessment. What we have managed to do with this kind of face mapping is practically to apply something that is relatively objective to something that is subjective”,

the surgeon adds.

As far as the conclusions of this technique are concerned, it is worth mentioning that George Kloney, Bradley Cooper and Elder Elba have pointed out as beautiful (based on mathematics and “Golden Section”).

Source: www.naftemporiki.gr