The
cosine of 144° in magnitude equals 1/2 the
golden ratio, φ, which was used in the construction of the pentagon.
Euclid in his
Elements, circa 300 B.C., also uses the golden ratio to construct the pentagon. See Euclid,
Elements, Book IV, Propositions 10-11. But
Eudoxus, an astronomer and a contemporary of Plato, is given credit for discovery of the
golden section which defines the golden ratio. Much of the content of Euclid's Elements was known to the
Pythagoreans who shared their knowledge with the Athenian philosophers.
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