In mathematics, the supergolden ratio is a geometrical proportion close to 85/58. Its true value is the real solution of the equation x³ = x² + 1.

The name supergolden ratio results from analogy with the golden ratio, the positive solution of the equation x² = x + 1.

Two quantities a > b > 0 are in the supergolden ratio-squared if

${\displaystyle \left({\frac {a+b}{a}}\right)^{2}={\frac {a}{b}}}$.

The ratio ${\displaystyle {\frac {a+b}{a}}}$ is commonly denoted ${\displaystyle \psi .}$

Based on this definition, one has

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}1&=\left({\frac {a+b}{a}}\right)^{2}{\frac {b}{a}}\\&=\left({\frac {a+b}{a}}\right)^{2}\left({\frac {a+b}{a}}-1\right)\\&\implies \psi ^{2}\left(\psi -1\right)=1\end{aligned}}}$

It follows that the supergolden ratio is found as the unique real solution of the cubic equation ${\displaystyle \psi ^{3}-\psi ^{2}-1=0.}$ The decimal expansion of the root begins as ${\displaystyle 1.465\,571\,231\,876\,768...}$ (sequence A092526 in the OEIS).

The minimal polynomial for the reciprocal root is the depressed cubic ${\displaystyle x^{3}+x-1}$,^[2] thus the simplest solution with Cardano's formula,

${\displaystyle w_{1,2}=\left(1\pm {\frac {1}{3}}{\sqrt {\frac {31}{3}}}\right)/2}$

${\displaystyle 1/\psi ={\sqrt[{3}]{w_{1}}}+{\sqrt[{3}]{w_{2}}}}$

or, using the hyperbolic sine,

${\displaystyle 1/\psi ={\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\sinh \left({\frac {1}{3}}\operatorname {arsinh} \left({\frac {3{\sqrt {3}}}{2}}\right)\right).}$

${\displaystyle 1/\psi }$ is the superstable fixed point of the iteration ${\displaystyle x\gets (2x^{3}+1)/(3x^{2}+1)}$.

The iteration ${\displaystyle x\gets {\sqrt[{3}]{1+x^{2}}}}$ results in the continued radical

${\displaystyle \psi ={\sqrt[{3}]{1+{\sqrt[{3/2}]{1+{\sqrt[{3/2}]{1+\cdots }}}}}}}$ ^[3]

Dividing the defining trinomial ${\displaystyle x^{3}-x^{2}-1}$ by ${\displaystyle x-\psi }$ one obtains ${\displaystyle x^{2}+x/\psi ^{2}+1/\psi }$, and the conjugate elements of ${\displaystyle \psi }$ are

${\displaystyle x_{1,2}=\left(-1\pm i{\sqrt {4\psi ^{2}+3}}\right)/2\psi ^{2}}$

Many properties of ${\displaystyle \psi }$ are related to golden ratio ${\displaystyle \varphi }$. For example, the supergolden ratio can be expressed in terms of itself as the infinite geometric series ^[4]

${\displaystyle \psi ^{3}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }\psi ^{-n}}$,

in comparison to the golden ratio identity

${\displaystyle \varphi ^{2}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }\varphi ^{-n}}$.

Additionally, ${\displaystyle 1+\varphi ^{-1}+\varphi ^{-2}=2}$, while ${\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{7}\psi ^{-n}=3.}$

For all powers ${\displaystyle \psi ^{n}=\psi ^{n-1}+\psi ^{n-3}=\psi ^{n-2}+\psi ^{n-3}+\psi ^{n-4}=\psi ^{n-2}+2\psi ^{n-4}+\psi ^{n-6}.}$

Continued fraction pattern of a few low powers

${\displaystyle \psi ^{-1}=[0;1,2,6,1,3,5,4,22,...]\approx 0.6823}$ (13/19)

${\displaystyle \ \psi ^{0}=[1]}$

${\displaystyle \ \psi ^{1}=[1;2,6,1,3,5,4,22,1,...]\approx 1.4656}$ (22/15)

${\displaystyle \ \psi ^{2}=[2;6,1,3,5,4,22,1,1,...]\approx 2.1479}$ (15/7)

${\displaystyle \ \psi ^{3}=[3;6,1,3,5,4,22,1,1,...]\approx 3.1479}$ (22/7)

${\displaystyle \ \psi ^{4}=[4;1,1,1,1,2,2,1,2,2,...]\approx 4.6135}$ (60/13)

${\displaystyle \ \psi ^{5}=[6;1,3,5,4,22,1,1,4,...]\approx 6.7614}$ (115/17)

Notably, the continued fraction of ${\displaystyle \psi ^{2}}$ begins as permutation of the first six natural numbers; the next term is equal to their sum + 1.

The supergolden ratio is the fourth smallest Pisot number.^[5] Because the absolute value ${\displaystyle 1/{\sqrt {\psi }}}$ of the algebraic conjugates is smaller than 1, powers of ${\displaystyle \psi }$ generate almost integers. For example: ${\displaystyle \psi ^{11}=67.000222765...\approx 67+1/4489}$. After eleven rotation steps the phases of the inward spiraling conjugate pair – initially close to ${\displaystyle \pm 13\pi /22}$ – nearly align with the imaginary axis.

The minimal polynomial of the supergolden ratio ${\displaystyle m(x)=x^{3}-x^{2}-1}$ has discriminant ${\displaystyle \Delta =-31}$. The Hilbert class field of imaginary quadratic field ${\displaystyle K=\mathbb {Q} ({\sqrt {\Delta }})}$ can be formed by adjoining ${\displaystyle \psi }$. With argument ${\displaystyle \tau =(1+{\sqrt {\Delta }})/2\,}$ a generator for the ring of integers of ${\displaystyle K}$, one has the special value of Dedekind eta quotient

${\displaystyle \psi ={\frac {e^{\pi i/24}\,\eta (\tau )}{{\sqrt {2}}\,\eta (2\tau )}}}$.

Expressed in terms of the Weber-Ramanujan class invariant G_n

${\displaystyle \psi ={\frac {{\mathfrak {f}}({\sqrt {\Delta }})}{\sqrt {2}}}={\frac {G_{31}}{\sqrt[{4}]{2}}}}$.^[6]

Properties of the related Klein j-invariant ${\displaystyle j(\tau )}$ result in near identity ${\displaystyle e^{\pi {\sqrt {-\Delta }}}\approx \left({\sqrt {2}}\,\psi \right)^{24}-24}$. The difference is < 1/143092.

The elliptic integral singular value^[7] ${\displaystyle k_{r}=\lambda ^{*}(r)}$ for ${\displaystyle r=31}$ has closed form expression

${\displaystyle \lambda ^{*}(31)=\sin(\arcsin \left(({\sqrt[{4}]{2}}\,\psi )^{-12}\right)/2)}$

(which is less than 1/10 the eccentricity of the orbit of Venus).

Narayana's cows is a recurrence sequence originating from a problem proposed by the 14th century Indian mathematician Narayana Pandita.^[8] He asked for the number of cows and calves in a herd after 20 years, beginning with one cow in the first year, where each cow gives birth to one calf each year from the age of three onwards.

The Narayana sequence has a close connection to the Fibonacci and Padovan sequences and plays an important role in data coding, cryptography and combinatorics. The number of compositions of n into parts 1 and 3 is counted by the nth Narayana number.

The Narayana sequence is defined by the third-order recurrence relation

${\displaystyle N_{n}=N_{n-1}+N_{n-3}}$ for n > 2,

with initial values

${\displaystyle N_{0}=N_{1}=N_{2}=1}$.

The first few terms are 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 19, 28, 41, 60, 88,... (sequence A000930 in the OEIS). The limit ratio between consecutive terms is the supergolden ratio.

The first 11 indices n for which ${\displaystyle N_{n}}$ is prime are n = 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 16, 21, 25, 81, 6241, 25747 (sequence A170954 in the OEIS). The last number has 4274 decimal digits.

The sequence can be extended to negative indices using

${\displaystyle N_{n}=N_{n+3}-N_{n+2}}$.

The generating function of the Narayana sequence is given by

${\displaystyle {\frac {1}{1-x-x^{3}}}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }N_{n}x^{n}}$ for ${\displaystyle x<1/\psi }$

The Narayana numbers are related to sums of binomial coefficients by

${\displaystyle N_{n}=\sum _{k=0}^{\lfloor n/3\rfloor }{n-2k \choose k}}$.

The characteristic equation of the recurrence is ${\displaystyle x^{3}-x^{2}-1=0}$. If the three solutions are real root ${\displaystyle \alpha }$ and conjugate pair ${\displaystyle \beta }$ and ${\displaystyle \gamma }$, the Narayana numbers can be computed with the Binet formula ^[9]

${\displaystyle N_{n-2}=a\alpha ^{n}+b\beta ^{n}+c\gamma ^{n}}$, with real ${\displaystyle a}$ and conjugates ${\displaystyle b}$ and ${\displaystyle c}$ the roots of ${\displaystyle 31x^{3}+x-1=0}$.

Since ${\displaystyle \left\vert b\beta ^{n}+c\gamma ^{n}\right\vert <1/{\sqrt {\alpha ^{n}}}}$ and ${\displaystyle \alpha =\psi }$, the number ${\displaystyle N_{n}}$ is the nearest integer to ${\displaystyle a\,\psi ^{n+2}}$, with n ≥ 0 and ${\displaystyle a=\psi /(\psi ^{2}+3)=}$ 0.2846930799753185027474714...

Coefficients ${\displaystyle a=b=c=1}$ result in the Binet formula for the related sequence ${\displaystyle A_{n}=N_{n}+2N_{n-3}}$.

The first few terms are 3, 1, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 15, 21, 31, 46, 67, 98, 144,... (sequence A001609 in the OEIS).

This anonymous sequence has the Fermat property: if p is prime, ${\displaystyle A_{p}\equiv A_{1}{\bmod {p}}}$. The converse does not hold, but the small number of odd pseudoprimes ${\displaystyle \,n\mid (A_{n}-1)}$ makes the sequence special.^[10] The 8 odd composite numbers below 10⁸ to pass the test are n = 1155, 552599, 2722611, 4822081, 10479787, 10620331, 16910355, 66342673.

The Narayana numbers are obtained as integral powers n > 3 of a matrix with real eigenvalue ${\displaystyle \psi }$ ^[8]

${\displaystyle Q={\begin{pmatrix}1&0&1\\1&0&0\\0&1&0\end{pmatrix}},}$

${\displaystyle Q^{n}={\begin{pmatrix}N_{n}&N_{n-2}&N_{n-1}\\N_{n-1}&N_{n-3}&N_{n-2}\\N_{n-2}&N_{n-4}&N_{n-3}\end{pmatrix}}}$

The trace of ${\displaystyle Q^{n}}$ gives the above ${\displaystyle A_{n}}$.

A supergolden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in a ${\displaystyle \psi :1}$ ratio. Compared to the golden rectangle, containing linear ratios ${\displaystyle \varphi ^{2}:\varphi :1}$, the supergolden rectangle has one more degree of self-similarity.

Given a rectangle of height 1, length ${\displaystyle \psi }$ and diagonal length ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\psi ^{3}}}}$ (according to ${\displaystyle 1+\psi ^{2}=\psi ^{3}}$). On the left-hand side, cut off a square of side length 1 and mark the intersection with the falling diagonal. The remaining rectangle now has aspect ratio ${\displaystyle \psi ^{2}:1}$ (according to ${\displaystyle \psi -1=\psi ^{-2}}$). Divide the original rectangle into four parts by a second, horizontal cut passing through the intersection point.

Numbering counter-clockwise starting from the upper right, the resulting first, second and fourth parts are all supergolden rectangles; while the third has aspect ratio ${\displaystyle \psi ^{3}:1}$. The original rectangle and successively the second, first and fourth parts have diagonal lengths in the ratios ${\displaystyle \psi ^{3}:\psi ^{2}:\psi :1}$ or, equivalently, areas ${\displaystyle \psi ^{6}:\psi ^{4}:\psi ^{2}:1}$. The areas of the diagonally opposite first and third parts are equal.^[11][4]

In the first part supergolden rectangle perpendicular to the original one, the process can be repeated at a scale of ${\displaystyle 1:\psi ^{2}}$.

• Solutions of equations similar to ${\displaystyle x^{3}=x^{2}+1}$:
  • Golden ratio – the only positive solution of the equation ${\displaystyle x^{2}=x+1}$
  • Plastic ratio – the only real solution of the equation ${\displaystyle x^{3}=x+1}$