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Why Phi? August 14 Marks the Golden Mean
As the unofficial governing body that oversees celebrations of the golden mean (0.618) on Phi Day, we here at Elliott Wave International have a bit of a conundrum on our hands. You see, it's easy to think of June 18 (6-18) as the best day to celebrate the golden ratio, which is also known as the Greek letter 'phi' (pronounced 'fie'). But there's another day that actually marks the ratio even better.
That day is August 14, because it falls proportionally at 0.618 of the time from January 1 to December 31. (Here's the math: 0.618 of 365 days = 225. 57 days. There are 212 days in the first seven months of the year, which leaves 13.57 or, rounding up, 14 more days, which takes us to August 14.)
Phi is an irrational number like pi, but its impact goes well beyond pi’s, which essentially delineates the static relationship between the circumference and the diameter of a circle. Phi, on the other hand, governs patterns of growth and decay, from botany to financial markets; in naturally occurring structures, such as DNA; and in manmade creations in art and architecture, such as the ancient Greek temples. It also crops up in many of the relationships among Elliott wave patterns.
When we first put Phi Day on the holiday calendar in 2007, we took a poll of our readers as to which day they preferred to celebrate Phi Day. They split the vote 50-50 between 6-18 and 8-14. From what I could tell, those who are more deeply inspired by mathematics like the 8-14 date, since it represents the actual ratio within the span of a year.
Not wanting to turn down a reason to think about and celebrate that near-mystical ratio, we said, "Let's celebrate both days!" And so, Phi Day II was born. If you would like to learn more about the relationship between phi and Elliott wave analysis, please read the two articles I wrote earlier for Phi Day I,
Get Ready To Celebrate Phi Day and
Fibonacci Sequence Explained.
Why Phi? Get to know more about the golden ratio, 0.618, through Elliott Wave International's many Fibonacci resources. You can celebrate Phi Day II on 8-14 with some free items that we have put together and these
special offers.