A Chain of Tangent Circles

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Given any polygon with vertices, it is possible to draw circles with centers at its vertices so that each circle is tangent to its two neighbors, forming a necklace of circles. If is odd, there is a unique solution; if is even, either there is no solution or an infinite number of solutions. This Demonstration assumes , but by superimposing circles, solutions for smaller can be displayed.

Contributed by: Jaime Rangel-Mondragon (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


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