<s>[INST] Angles between two vertices on a dodecahedron Say $20$ points are placed across a spherical planet, and they are all spaced evenly, forming the vertices of a dodecahedron. I would like to calculate the distances between the points, but that requires me to find out the angles between the vertices.
From the origin of the dodecahedron, how would I find the angle between two adjacent vertices on the same face, and the angle between two vertices on the same face but not connected by an edge?
 [/INST] As noted in Wikipedia's "Dodecahedron" entry, if $s$ is the length of an edge of a dodecahedron, and $r$ the radius of its circumsphere, then
$$r = s \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}\left( 1 + \sqrt{5} \right)$$
So, if two points $A$ and $B$ are joined by and edge, and $O$ is the center of the dodecahedron, then $\triangle AOB$ is isosceles with legs $r$ and base $s$; applying the Law of Cosines to its vertex angle, we have ...
$$s^2 = r^2 + r^2 - 2 r\cdot r\cos\angle AOB = 2 r^2 \left( 1 - \cos\angle AOB \right) = 4 r^2 \sin^2\frac{1}{2}\angle AOB$$
so that 
$$\sin\frac{1}{2}\angle AOB = \frac{s}{2r} = \frac{2s}{s\sqrt{3}\left(1+\sqrt{5}\right)} = \frac{\sqrt{3}\left(\sqrt{5}-1\right)}{6}$$
whence 
$$\angle AOB = 2 \arcsin \frac{\sqrt{3}\left(\sqrt{5}-1\right)}{6} = 41.8103\dots^\circ$$
If $A$ and $C$ are non-adjacent vertices on a face, then $d := |AC|$ is a diagonal of a regular pentagon with side length $s$. Thus,
$$d = \frac{s}{2}\left( 1 + \sqrt{5} \right)$$
Just as above, we can compute
$$\sin\frac{1}{2}\angle AOC = \frac{d}{2r} = \frac{s\left(1+\sqrt{5}\right)}{s\sqrt{3}\left(1+\sqrt{5}\right)} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}$$
whence
$$\angle AOC = 2 \arcsin \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} = 70.5288\dots^\circ$$
(You may recognize this as the central angle between adjacent vertices of a cube. It's often helpful to realize that a dodecahedron's face diagonals form the edges of a family of cubes, as shown in the Wikipedia entry. Moreover, one can think of constructing a dodecahedron by taking a cube and pitching a pup-tent on each face, where a triangular tent face and a quadrilateral tent face form a regular pentagon.)
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