The Archway to The Teaching Gardens

The Archway to the Teaching Gardens at St. Michael's College is complete. The work of stone artist Thea Alvin the archway and "plinth" provide a spectacular entryway to the Teaching Gardens.

I make a point of walking through the arch on my way to my office in the morning and on my way home at night. For the past couple of weeks since it was completed I have said to myself, as I walk through the arch "I will retire this year" or "I won't retire quite yet". If I am confident in my

decision I walk to the right of the plinth, if not,    I walk to the left. I'm waiting for the time I consistently say and do the same thing each day.
I call it the Archway of decision.

Mathematically, the arch and the structure itself are very interesting. Initially I didn't think the arch followed the curve created  by the squares of the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence because I only saw the top part of the opening. Now that it is complete you can see the continuously changing radius of the curve from
                                                                                    the bottom of the arch to the middle of the top.

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The same sequence is repeated in the line at the top of the wall where the curve continues to tighten toward the right.

Below is a diagram of the Fibonacci curve which is made by squaring the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence; 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 etc. The sequence is created by adding the last two numbers to get the next one. This pattern occurs throughout the natural world and is also related to the golden ratio.

 Isn't that neat!!!!!