What constructions with compasses and a ruler, unknown to Thales, did Pythagoras know how to perform?
October 31, 2020 | Education
| What constructions with compasses and a ruler, unknown to Thales, did Pythagoras know how to perform? What new polyhedra have become known to him?
Pythagoras was the first to learn to build a regular pentagon with a compass and a ruler. He was also the first to study the regular dodecahedron (Thales knew only the cube, tetrahedron and octahedron). It is not clear whether Pythagoras knew about the existence of a regular icosahedron or whether this figure was first studied by Plato’s disciples 200 years after Pythagoras.
