Tangent Circles

In an earlier sketch, I tackled a classic problem of Apollonius: Construct a circle tangent to

three arbitrary circles. I was later advised by an acquaintance, John Del Grande, that my
solution was incomplete. A circle may be seen as a point or a line, these being the limiting
cases as the radius approaches zero or infinity. Rather than use three circles, we should be
using any combination of three from points, lines, and circles.

Dr. Del Grande listed all of the ten combinations in a textbook, Mathematics 12, by J. J.
Del Grande, G. F. D. Duff, and J. C. Egsgard (1965 W. J. Gage Limited).

The developers of The Geometer’s Sketchpad have been working to make Sketchpad
documents that can be viewed on a web browser. Thanks to their efforts, the ten images
immediately below are dynamic geometry images. The independent objects are red. The
constructed circles are blue. If an independent object is a circle, then it may be manipulated
by moving its center, or by moving a point on the circle, which controls the radius. If the
independent object is a line, then it is controlled by two points on the line. Independent
points may be moved freely.

Copyright © 2015 KCP Technologies, a McGraw-Hill Education Company. All rights

reserved.
Release: 2015Q2-1, Semantic Version: 4.2.1, Build Number: 911.7-r, Build Stamp:
dn.kcptech.com/20150724142440

Three Circles

At most, eight solutions.

Two Circles, One Line

At most, eight solutions.

Two Circles, One Point

At most, four solutions.

One Circle, Two Lines

At most, eight solutions.

One Circle, One Line, One

Point

At most, four solutions.

One Circle, Two Points

At most, two solutions.

Three Lines

At most, four solutions.

Two Lines, One Point

At most, two solutions.

One Line, Two Points

At most, two solutions.

Three Points

At most, one solution.

Construction Notes

That last construction is simply a circle

through three points. It is covered in most
elementary geometry courses. Some of the
other constructions are extremely
complicated. If you doubt that, then open
the Sketchpad version of the Three
Circles drawing and execute the Show All
Hidden command. You will see something
similar to the picture at right. This is one
case in which it is difficult to dispute the
value of dynamic geometry software. With
so many interdependent objects, I would
never be able to complete this drawing
using straightedge and compass. It would be
too difficult to distinguish between the different objects, the precision would be
compromised with each step, and so many construction marks could not be cleanly erased.

Inversion geometry is used in the more difficult constructions. If you have never studied it,
or if you need a refresher on the terminology, this link may be helpful: Inversion Geometry

This begins with my own construction. I later learned of several others, at least one of
which is much more elegant. This one comes first, however, because it is my own.

It would seem difficult to find a circle that is tangent to three given circles, but if two of
those circles were concentric, then it would not be so difficult at all. Given any two non-
intersecting circles, it is possible to define an inversion such that the circles’ images are
concentric. Invert all three circles, construct tangent circles, and run the solutions through
the same transformation. Their images will be tangent to the original circles.

Begin with three circles. Define the inversion. Invert the circles.

Construct a solution. Invert the solution. Take a bow.

What if the original circles intersect? That makes it even easier. Two intersecting circles
can be inverted so that their images are intersecting lines. That would simplify the three-
circle problem into a problem of two lines and one circle. Below is the same sequence of
steps, beginning with intersecting circles.
The Gergonne Solution

Notice that the construction above is actually two constructions. The one to use depends on
whether any of the given circles intersect. That would not have been such an issue in the
third century BC, but we now live with dynamic geometry software, and the given
conditions can change even after the construction is complete. It would be better to have
one solution that fits all cases.

The construction below was published by Joseph-Diaz Gergonne in 1816. It too makes use
of inversion geometry. One great advantage is that the same construction works for all but a
few special configurations of the given circles. For three given circles, the Gergonne
construction will render all solutions and will not result in any rogue circles, which are not
solutions. This makes it work especially well with dynamic geometry. Do the construction
once, and it will hold together while the arrangement of the given circles is changed.

Proof of the Gergonne solution can be found in the paper below. It is a journal article
discussing solutions by François Viète, Isaac Newton, and Gergonne.

'The tangency problem of Apollonius: three looks',

BSHM Bulletin: Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, 22:1, 34 - 46

The Gergonne construction:

The dilation point or center of homothety of two circles

is the point from which one of the circles may be
dilated onto the other. For two circles, there are
generally two dilation points.

From a set of three circles, three different pairs can be

taken. For each pair, construct the two dilation points.
That results in six points. Through these six points, it is
possible to draw four lines, each containing three of the
dilation points. Three of the lines separate one circle
center from the other two centers. The fourth line has all
three center points on the same side.
Each of these lines leads to as many as
two solutions. For clarity, only one of the
lines and two of the solutions will be
presented here. Construct the poles of the
line with respect to each of the three
circles.

Construct the radical center of the three

circles, and from that point, draw a line
to each of the three poles. In this case,
each line intersects its respective circle at
two points.
 The six intersection points are points of
tangency for two solution circles, with
three tangent points on each solution.
The solutions can be constructed from
these points of tangency.

Correctly separating them into groups of

three may by a bit tricky. Here is one tip.
If the line of similitude separates the
center of one given circle from the
centers of the other two, then the solution
circle will do likewise. In this sketch, the
center of the lower red circle is separated
from the others by the line of similitude.
Therefore, one solution circle is
internally tangent to this odd circle and
externally tangent to the others. The
second solution, vice verse.

Geometer’s Sketchpad File

Below is a Geometer's Sketchpad document with constructed solutions for each of the ten
cases. Most of the constructions are based on Gergonnes's solution.

Apollonius10.gsp

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