Why wasn't Pi titled Phi? (1 Viewer)

[Vlad D]

I saw this movie last night and found it fascinating. Been thinking about it all day, and decided to look up a few things. Which brings me to the title of this thread.

**** Spoiler ****

Max talks about the golden rectangle, Fibonacci numbers and the golden spiral created from the golden rectangle.
Max hypothesizes that everything in nature is infused with this golden spiral.

Well, from what I have been reading, it turns out that the golden rectangle, the golden spiral and Fibonacci numbers are all related by a number represented by the Greek letter phi, also called the golden ratio.

Phi = 1.6180339887499... Pi = 3.1415926535...

So my question, why wasn't this movie titled Phi?

(Mods, I looked for an "Official" Pi thread, but couldn't find one. If there is please feel free to merge this thread.)

 

[Jason Seaver]

Because "phi" is also commonly used to represent the empty set/nothing?

 

[Vlad D]

Because "phi" is also commonly used to represent the empty set/nothing?

Ok, but how does "Pi" relate to the golden rectangle, other than the fact that squaring the rectangle spirals infinitely as does Pi.

Maybe thats it.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Actually, I think it's just a matter of pi being the most immediately recognized irrational number. The golden mean (which I always learned as g, not phi) is probably more relevant, but a phi on the package/poster won't mean as much to the audience (or might mean "nothing").

 

[Vlad D]

Actually, I think it's just a matter of pi being the most immediately recognized irrational number

That makes a lot of sense. Aronofsky probably didn't think anyone would be as anal as I was and look it up.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

It's been awhile since I've seen the film, and I don't recall the golden spiral theory...but I do remember much of the film revolving around the infinite number sequence of pi and how that particular 216 number string was the key to unlocking the patterns in the world.

Bruce

 

[Vlad D]

It's been awhile since I've seen the film, and I don't recall the golden spiral theory...but I do remember much of the film revolving around the infinite number sequence of pi and how that particular 216 number string was the key to unlocking the patterns in the world.

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