The Statue of Regiomontanus

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If you want a statue to look as big as possible, where should you stand? If you are too close, the statue will be foreshortened. If far away, the statue will appear small. In the fifteenth century, Johannes Regiomontanus solved this question. The statue appears largest when an imaginary circle that passes through the top and bottom of the statue also passes horizontally through the viewer's eyes.

Contributed by: Ed Pegg Jr (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


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