Plastic Number

In mathematics, the plastic number (also known as the plastic constant, the plastic ratio, the minimal Pisot number, the platin number, Siegel's number or, in French, ) is a mathematical constant which is the unique real solution of the cubic equation
: $x^3 = x + 1.$

It has the exact value
: \rho = \sqrt \sqrt

Its decimal expansion begins with .

Properties

Recurrences

The powers of the plastic number satisfy the third-order linear recurrence relation for . Hence it is the limiting ratio of successive terms of any (non-zero) integer sequence satisfying this recurrence such as the Padovan sequence (also known as the Cordonnier numbers), the Perrin numbers and the Van der Laan numbers, and bears relationships to these sequences akin to the relationships of the golden ratio to the second-order Fibonacci and Lucas numbers, akin to the relationships between the silver ratio and the Pell numbers.

The plastic number satisfies the nested radical recurrence

: \rho = \sqrt

Number theory

Because the plastic number has the minimal polynomial it is also a solution of the polynomial equation for every polynomial that is a multiple of but not for any other polynomials with integer coefficients. Since the discriminant of its minimal polynomial is −23, its splitting field over rationals is $\mathbb(\sqrt, \rho).$ This field is also a Hilbert class field of $\mathbb(\sqrt).$ As such, it can be expressed in terms of the Dedekind eta function $\eta(\tau)$ with argument $\tau = \tfrac2$,

:$\rho= \frac\frac = 1.3247\dots$

and root of unity $z = e^$. Similarly, for the supergolden ratio with argument $\beta = \tfrac2$,

:$\psi= \frac\frac = 1.4655\dots$

Also, the plastic number is the smallest Pisot–Vijayaraghavan number. Its algebraic conjugates are
: \left(-\frac12 \pm \fraci\right) \sqrt + \left(-\frac12 \mp \fraci\right) \sqrt \approx -0.662359 \pm 0.56228i,
of absolute value ≈ 0.868837 . This value is also $\frac$ because the product of the three roots of the minimal polynomial is 1.

Trigonometry

The plastic number can be written using the hyperbolic cosine () and its inverse:
:$\rho = \frac \cosh\left(\frac \cosh^ \left(\frac\right)\right).$
(See Cubic function#Trigonometric (and hyperbolic) method.)

Geometry

There are precisely three ways of partitioning a square into three similar rectangles:
#The trivial solution given by three congruent rectangles with aspect ratio 3:1.
#The solution in which two of the three rectangles are congruent and the third one has twice the side length of the other two, where the rectangles have aspect ratio 3:2.
#The solution in which the three rectangles are mutually non congruent (all of different sizes) and where they have aspect ratio ''ρ''². The ratios of the linear sizes of the three rectangles are: ''ρ'' (large:medium); ''ρ''² (medium:small); and ''ρ''³ (large:small). The internal, long edge of the largest rectangle (the square's fault line) divides two of the square's four edges into two segments each that stand to one another in the ratio ''ρ.'' The internal, coincident short edge of the medium rectangle and long edge of the small rectangle divides one of the square's other, two edges into two segments that stand to one another in the ratio ''ρ''⁴.
The fact that a rectangle of aspect ratio ''ρ''² can be used for dissections of a square into similar rectangles is equivalent to an algebraic property of the number ''ρ''² related to the Routh–Hurwitz theorem: all of its conjugates have positive real part.

The intersections of the circle ''x''² + ''y''² = 1 with the curve ''x''³ = ''y''² occur at Cartesian coordinates (''ρ''⁻¹,''ρ''^−3/2) and (''ρ''⁻¹,-''ρ''^−3/2).

History and names

Dutch architect and Benedictine monk Dom Hans van der Laan gave the name ''plastic number'' ( nl, het plastische getal) to this number in 1928. In 1924, four years prior to van der Laan's christening of the number's name, French engineer had already discovered the number and referred to it as ''the radiant number'' (french: le nombre radiant). Unlike the names of the golden ratio and silver ratio, the word plastic was not intended by van der Laan to refer to a specific substance, but rather in its adjectival sense, meaning something that can be given a three-dimensional shape. This, according to Richard Padovan, is because the characteristic ratios of the number, and , relate to the limits of human perception in relating one physical size to another. Van der Laan designed the 1967 St. Benedictusberg Abbey church to these plastic number proportions.

The plastic number is also sometimes called the silver number, a name given to it by Midhat J. Gazalé and subsequently used by Martin Gardner, but that name is more commonly used for the silver ratio $1 + \sqrt,$ one of the ratios from the family of metallic means first described by Vera W. de Spinadel in 1998.

Martin Gardner has suggested referring to $\rho^2$ as "high phi", and Donald Knuth created a special typographic mark for this name, a variant of the Greek letter phi ("φ") with its central circle raised, resembling the Georgian letter pari ("Ⴔ").

See also

*Snub icosidodecadodecahedron
*Supergolden ratio

Notes

References

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External links

Tales of a Neglected Number
by Ian Stewart
Plastic rectangle and Padovan sequence
at Tartapelago by Giorgio Pietrocola
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Euclidean plane geometry
Cubic irrational numbers
Mathematical constants
History of geometry
Visual arts theory
Composition in visual art