Golden Ratio In Three Tangent Circles

Tran Quang Hung's variant

Given three pairwise tangent circles $(A),\;$ $(B),\;$ and $(C),\;$ let $F,\;$ $D,\;$ $E\;$ be the points of tangency. Line $DF\;$ intersects circles $(B),\;$ $(C),\;$ and $(ABC)\;$ successively in points $G,\;$ $H,\;$ $F,\;$ $D,\;$ $I,\;$ $J.$

Golden Ratio In Three Tangent Circles

Then $\displaystyle\frac{FH}{GH}=\frac{DF}{FH}=\frac{DH}{DJ}=\varphi,\;$ the Golden Ratio.

Assume $L\;$ is the shared center of $(ABC)\;$ and $(DEF)\;$ and that $DE=1.\;$ Also let $K\;$ be the midpoint of $DF.\;$

Golden Ratio In Three Tangent Circles, proof

Then $AB=2\;$ and the radius $R\;$ of $(ABC)\;$ can be found to be $\displaystyle R=2\frac{2}{3}\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}=\frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3}.\;$ Note that $HL=R.\;$ Further, $\displaystyle KL=\frac{1}{3}\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}=\frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}.$

The Pythagorean theorem, applied in $\Delta HKL,\;$ then gives

$\displaystyle HK=\sqrt{ \left(\frac{2\sqrt{3}}{3}\right)^2-\left(\frac{\sqrt{3}}{6}\right)^2 }=\frac{\sqrt{5}}{2}.$

Now, $GF=1\;$ and $DG=2\;$ because $\Delta BFG\;$ is equilateral. The rest is left as an exercise.

Elliot McGucken's variant

The Construction: Begin with an equilateral triangle. Inscribe a circle inside of it. Connect the two upper points where the circle is tangent to the triangle (segment $DI)\;$ and find the midpoint of the segment $(M).\;$ Find the midpoint of the side of the newly defined smaller triangle atop $(L).\;$ Draw a line from that midpoint $(L)\;$ through the midpoint $(M)\;$ and on to the border of the circle.

Golden Ratio In Three Tangent Circles, Elliot's

The red and blue line segments, thusly defined, are in the ratio of $1.618\;$ to $1.\;$ Also, the ratio of segment $p\;$ to segment $q\;$ in the upper triangle is also the golden ratio $\varphi.$

Overlap

Golden Ratio In Three Tangent Circles, overlap

Acknowledgment

The first part has been posted by Tran Quang Hung at the CutTheKnotMath facebook page. The second part has been posted earlier by Elliot McGucken at his facebook page and elsewhere. Elliot also provided the overlap diagram where his diagram is embedded into that of Tran Quang Hung. I thank them both.

Golden Ratio

  1. Golden Ratio in Geometry
  2. Golden Ratio in Regular Pentagon
  3. Golden Ratio in an Irregular Pentagon
  4. Golden Ratio in a Irregular Pentagon II
  5. Inflection Points of Fourth Degree Polynomials
  6. Wythoff's Nim
  7. Inscribing a regular pentagon in a circle - and proving it
  8. Cosine of 36 degrees
  9. Continued Fractions
  10. Golden Window
  11. Golden Ratio and the Egyptian Triangle
  12. Golden Ratio by Compass Only
  13. Golden Ratio with a Rusty Compass
  14. From Equilateral Triangle and Square to Golden Ratio
  15. Golden Ratio and Midpoints
  16. Golden Section in Two Equilateral Triangles
  17. Golden Section in Two Equilateral Triangles, II
  18. Golden Ratio is Irrational
  19. Triangles with Sides in Geometric Progression
  20. Golden Ratio in Hexagon
  21. Golden Ratio in Equilateral Triangles
  22. Golden Ratio in Square
  23. Golden Ratio via van Obel's Theorem
  24. Golden Ratio in Circle - in Droves
  25. From 3 to Golden Ratio in Semicircle
  26. Another Golden Ratio in Semicircle
  27. Golden Ratio in Two Squares
  28. Golden Ratio in Two Equilateral Triangles
  29. Golden Ratio As a Mathematical Morsel
  30. Golden Ratio in Inscribed Equilateral Triangles
  31. Golden Ratio in a Rhombus
  32. Golden Ratio in Five Steps
  33. Between a Cross and a Square
  34. Four Golden Circles
  35. Golden Ratio in Mixtilinear Circles
  36. Golden Ratio With Two Equal Circles And a Line
  37. Golden Ratio in a Chain of Polygons, So to Speak
  38. Golden Ratio With Two Unequal Circles And a Line
  39. Golden Ratio In a 3x3 Square
  40. Golden Ratio In a 3x3 Square II
  41. Golden Ratio In Three Tangent Circles
  42. Golden Ratio In Right Isosceles Triangle
  43. Golden Ratio Poster
  44. Golden Ratio Next to the Poster
  45. Golden Ratio In Rectangles
  46. Golden Ratio In a 2x2 Square: Without And Within
  47. Golden Ratio With Two Unequal Circles And a Line II
  48. Golden Ratio in Equilateral and Right Isosceles Triangles
  49. Golden Ratio in a Butterfly Astride an Equilateral Triangle
  50. The Golden Pentacross
  51. 5-Step Construction of the Golden Ratio, One of Many
  52. Golden Ratio in 5-gon and 6-gon
  53. Golden Ratio in an Isosceles Trapezoid with a 60 degrees Angle
  54. Golden Ratio in Pentagon And Two Squares
  55. Golden Ratio in Pentagon And Three Triangles
  56. Golden Ratio in a Mutually Beneficial Relationship
  57. Star, Six Pentagons and Golden Ratio
  58. Rotating Square in Search of the Golden Ratio
  59. Cultivating Regular Pentagons
  60. Golden Ratio in an Isosceles Trapezoid with a 60 degrees Angle II
  61. More of Gloden Ratio in Equilateral Triangles
  62. Golden Ratio in Three Regular Pentagons
  63. Golden Ratio in Three Regular Pentagons II
  64. Golden Ratio in Wu Xing
  65. Golden Ratio In Three Circles And Common Secant
  66. Flat Probabilities on a Sphere
  67. Golden Ratio in Square And Circles
  68. Golden Ratio in Square
  69. Golden Ratio in Two Squares, Or, Perhaps in Three
  70. Golden Ratio in Isosceles Triangle
  71. Golden Ratio in Circles
  72. Golden Ratio in Isosceles Triangle II
  73. Golden Ratio in Yin-Yang

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