WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Art of Tangent Circles

​
rotation
size
color
copy
one
two
three
four
six
The outer shape is made from the arcs of three tangent circles of radius
a
. The radius of inner circles is determined by the recurrence
1/
r
n+2
+1/
r
n
=4/a+2/
r
n+1
,
n≥3
, where
r
3
=a
,
r
4
=
2
3
-3
3
a
, and
r
5
=
2
3
-3
3(2
3
-1)
a
.