Observations on the icosahedron in Euclid's Elements (Q579227): Difference between revisions

In ``Die fünf platonischen Körper'' (1917) \textit{E. Sachs} discussed the question of how the construction of the icosahedron could have been found. She argued that Theaetetus discovered the identity \(p^ 2=h^ 2+d^ 2\) (p, h, and d for the sides of the regular pentagon, hexagon, and decagon inscribed in the same circle) in connection with the investigations of the icosahedron, and that the planimetric proof was constructed afterwards. The author of the note under review argues that Theaetetus could have found the basic idea of his construction of the icosahedron by means of a rigorous analysis in the Greek sense of the word.