Notes
two pentagons solution

Two Pentagons

Two Pentagons

Two regular pentagons. What’s the angle?

Solution by Transformation and Similar Triangles

Two pentagons labelled

With the points labelled as above, rotation about point EE of angle 72 72^\circ followed by a uniform scaling by the golden ratio also from EE takes AA to BB and CC to DD. Therefore, applying this transformation to triangle AECA E C produces triangle BEDB E D and so these triangles are similar. This means that BDB D is obtained from ACA C by rotation of 72 72^\circ (and scaling) and so angle AF^BA \hat{F} B is 72 72^\circ. The requested angle is therefore 108 108^\circ.

Solution by Invariance Principle

Two pentagons special cases

The above diagram contains three special cases of the diagram. The yellow pentagon is common to all three. The pink and green each share an edge with the yellow, while the orange is such that at the common vertex then the sides of it and the yellow form straight lines. Using the angles in a regular pentagon, the required angle can be seen to be 108 108^\circ.