Name: 「美貌」真的有公式嗎？所謂的「黃金比例|」真的會讓你變好看嗎？ (Is there really a mathematical formula for a beautiful face? | BBC Ideas)
Uploaded: 2025-08-01T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 4 min 33 s

關係子句

The golden ratio is a mathematical phenomenon that can explain everything from tornadoes to the Mona Lisa, the pyramids to sunflowers and seashells, and why some people are much more attractive than others, at least according to thousands of TikTok posts and a bunch of entrepreneurial cosmetic surgeons.

黃金比例是一種數學現象，它可以解釋從龍捲風到蒙娜麗莎、金字塔到向日葵和貝殼等一切事物，也可以解釋為什麼有些人比其他人更有魅力，至少根據成千上萬的 TikTok 帖子和一群創業整容醫生的說法是這樣。

So how did we come to consider this obscure formula to be both the secret of life and the ultimate standard of beauty?

那麼，我們是如何將這個晦澀難懂的公式視為生命的祕密和美的終極標準的呢？

Way back in 1202, Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci, wrote a book in which he introduced Europe to the Arabic numerals we use today.

早在 1202 年，比薩的萊昂納多（又稱斐波那契）就寫了一本書，向歐洲介紹了我們今天使用的阿拉伯數字。

But buried in chapter 12, there was a sequence of numbers discovered by the ancient Hindu poet Pingala.

但在第 12 章中，古印度詩人平格拉發現了一串數字。

In this sequence, each new number is the sum of the previous two.

在這個序列中，每個新數字都是前兩個數字之和。

So the first and second numbers add up to the third, the third and the fourth add up to the fifth, and so on.

是以，第一個數字和第二個數字相加等於第三個數字，第三個數字和第四個數字相加等於第五個數字，以此類推。

Fibonacci explained this progression using the example of a field of incestuous rabbits.

斐波那契以亂倫的兔子為例解釋了這一過程。

Let's make the length one Fibonacci number and the height the next Fibonacci number.

讓我們把長度設為一個斐波那契數字，高度設為下一個斐波那契數字。

The approximate ratio of the height to the width is called the golden ratio or the golden section.

高與寬的近似比例被稱為黃金比例或黃金分割。

The extraordinary thing about this rectangle is that if you cut off a perfect square, you're left with a smaller rectangle of exactly the same proportions.

這個長方形的特別之處在於，如果把一個完美的正方形切掉，就會剩下一個比例完全相同的更小的長方形。

Now watch what happens when we start cutting out smaller and smaller squares.

現在看看當我們開始剪出越來越小的方塊時會發生什麼。

In the 1860s, a German psychologist named Gustav Fechner showed people a variety of rectangles and asked them to pick their favourite.

19 世紀 60 年代，德國心理學家古斯塔夫-費希納（Gustav Fechner）向人們展示了各種矩形，並讓他們選出自己最喜歡的矩形。

He reported that the winner was the golden rectangle.

他報告說，獲勝者是黃金矩形。

And so began the beguiling idea that there's a particular proportion that is the most beautiful to the human eye.

於是，人們開始產生一種誘人的想法，認為有一種特定的比例對人的眼睛來說是最美的。

And you don't have to look far to see the golden ratio all around us.

不用走多遠，你就會發現黃金比例就在我們身邊。

In a head of sunflower seeds, there are two sets of interlocking spirals.

在一粒葵花籽中，有兩組相互交錯的螺旋。

If you count all the spirals going one way, you get one Fibonacci number, and if you count all the spirals going the other way, you'll get the next Fibonacci number.

如果你數出所有螺旋線的走向，你會得到一個斐波那契數字，如果你數出所有螺旋線的走向，你會得到下一個斐波那契數字。

Snails, for example, grow their shells at a rate dependent on how much calcium is available, not according to the golden ratio.

例如，蝸牛長殼的速度取決於鈣的含量，而不是黃金比例。

There are many spirals in nature, and some of them are very mathematically interesting.

自然界中有許多螺旋，其中一些在數學上非常有趣。

But just because something is a spiral does not mean it's a golden spiral.

但是，螺旋並不意味著它就是金螺旋。

Associations between the golden ratio and what humans find beautiful may be even more bogus.

黃金比例與人類認為的美之間的聯繫可能更加虛假。

還記得古斯塔夫-費希納的研究嗎？

It was disproved in 1974, when University of Toronto professor Michael Godkiewicz concluded the reported preference for the golden rectangle was due to its position in the range of rectangles.

1974 年，多倫多大學教授邁克爾-戈德凱維奇（Michael Godkiewicz）推翻了這一觀點，他得出結論說，報告中人們對黃金矩形的偏好是由於黃金矩形在矩形範圍中的位置。

More recent studies have found that, given 48 options, it is almost impossible to even pick out the golden rectangle by eye.

最近的研究發現，在 48 個選項中，幾乎不可能用眼睛選出黃金矩形。

And despite containing some pretty interesting maths, the Parthenon in Athens does not display the golden ratio.

儘管雅典帕臺農神廟包含了一些非常有趣的數學知識，但它並沒有顯示黃金比例。

More concerning are the supposed links between the golden ratio and facial beauty, which over the past decades have seen a slew of inventions, from a golden mask which was meant to be the blueprint for the perfect face, to more recent grid filters on TikTok claiming to test or correct your face according to the golden ratio, perpetuating not only unrealistic beauty standards, but bad maths too.

更令人擔憂的是黃金比例與面部美觀之間的所謂聯繫，在過去的幾十年裡，人們發明了一系列的黃金比例，從黃金面具（意為完美臉型的藍圖）到最近 TikTok 上的網格濾鏡，它們都聲稱可以根據黃金比例來測試或修正你的臉型，這不僅延續了不切實際的美貌標準，也延續了糟糕的數學。

The idea that one number can explain everything, from rams horns and flowers, to artificial artistic masterpieces and human faces, is an appealing one, and speaks to our need to make sense of a chaotic universe.

一個數字可以解釋一切，從羊角和花朵，到人工藝術傑作和人類面孔，這種想法很有吸引力，也說明了我們需要從混沌的宇宙中找出意義。

The golden ratio is part of an interwoven universe, not of ancient art, history and nature, but of mathematics and geometry, an interwovenness that can be actually proven.

黃金分割率是交織宇宙的一部分，不是古代藝術、歷史和自然的一部分，而是數學和幾何的一部分，這種交織性是可以實際證明的。

The good news is there is no mathematical law that defines who is and isn't beautiful.

好消息是，並沒有數學定律來定義誰是美麗的，誰不是美麗的。

Regardless of the golden ratio, someone somewhere thinks you're a total stunner.

不管黃金比例如何，總有人認為你是個不折不扣的尤物。