Largest gap — where it appears
Packing, measured four ways
The claim is that the golden angle packs best. It is measurable, and the measurement gives three different winners on three criteria — all near 137.5° and none of them it. That does not make the claim wrong; it makes the usual statement of it wrong.
The gap that grows
A rational divergence angle develops an empty wedge that grows without bound as the head fills — a factor of nearly four between two hundred primordia and sixteen hundred. An irrational one does not. That is the statement about the golden angle that survives measurement.
Named alongside it
The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.
Divergence angleRational approximationAsymptoticAsymptotic claimCriterion dependenceCylinderEquidistributionNearest neighbourPacking qualityRational angleRiseThe three-distance theorem