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Teen spots supposed error in math exhibit, museum says it's right

By Marilyn Malara
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BOSTON, July 7 (UPI) -- A 15-year-old boy took a good look at the apparent equation for the Golden Ratio at the Boston Museum of Science, thought it was wrong and told somebody.

Joseph Rosenfield, a Virginian high-schooler who visited the museum with his family, noticed something was off with the ratio as displayed in the "Mathemetica: A World of Numbers...and Beyond" exhibit -- there were minus signs where plus signs should be.

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The permanent exhibit stood in the museum for over 30 years before the supposed errors were found; it was created by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1960s and arrived in the museum in 1981.

Rosenfield left a message at the front desk after discovering the details. His father, Scott, told Boston.com that he hadn't even left contact information behind, so it wasn't until his aunts contacted the museum when the teen's family received a letter.

"You are right that the formula for the Golden Ratio is incorrect. We will be changing the – sign to a + sign on the three places it appears if we can manage to do it without damaging the original," the museum's exhibit content developer, Alana Parkes wrote at the time.

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But the Museum of Science has since released a statement against the assumption that the display was wrong. Instead, the museum says the Golden Ratio equation inscribed at the exhibit was "in fact the less common -- but no less accurate -- way to present it."

"It was cool," Rosenfield told Boston.com at the time. "At first, I wasn't sure, I thought maybe I had it wrong, but I was excited."

Rosenfield double checked himself before leaving a comment at the museum's front desk, but was apparently unaware of the uncommon version.

"It's exciting that people around the country are talking about math and science and that, in the process, we learned something too," the museum's statement, released Tues., read. "Let's hear it for STEM education and for Joseph Rosenfeld!"

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