In geometry, the twin circles are two special circles associated with an arbelos. An arbelos is determined by three collinear points A, B, and C, and is the curvilinear triangular region between the three semicircles that have AB, BC, and AC as their diameters. If the arbelos is partitioned into two smaller regions by a line segment through the middle point of A, B, and C, perpendicular to line ABC, then each of the two twin circles lies within one of these two regions, tangent to its two semicircular sides and to the splitting segment.
These circles first appeared in the Book of Lemmas , which showed (Proposition V) that the two circles are congruent. [1] Thābit ibn Qurra, who translated this book into Arabic, attributed it to Greek mathematician Archimedes. Based on this claim the twin circles, and several other circles in the Arbelos congruent to them, have also been called Archimedes's circles. However, this attribution has been questioned by later scholarship. [2]
Specifically, let , , and be the three corners of the arbelos, with between and . Let be the point where the larger semicircle intercepts the line perpendicular to the through the point . The segment divides the arbelos in two parts. The twin circles are the two circles inscribed in these parts, each tangent to one of the two smaller semicircles, to the segment , and to the largest semicircle. [3]
Each of the two circles is uniquely determined by its three tangencies. Constructing it is a special case of the Problem of Apollonius.
Alternative approaches to constructing two circles congruent to the twin circles have also been found. [4] [5] These circles have also been called Archimedean circles. They include the Bankoff circle, Schoch circles, and Woo circles.
Let a and b be the diameters of two inner semicircles, so that the outer semicircle has diameter a + b. The diameter of each twin circle is then [3]
Alternatively, if the outer semicircle has unit diameter, and the inner circles have diameters and , the diameter of each twin circle is [3]
The smallest circle that encloses both twin circles has the same area as the arbelos. [3]
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. The length of a line segment connecting two points on the circle and passing through the centre is called the diameter. A circle bounds a region of the plane called a disc.
In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the perpendicular symbol, ⟂. Perpendicular intersections can happen between two lines, between a line and a plane, and between two planes.
Angle trisection is a classical problem of straightedge and compass construction of ancient Greek mathematics. It concerns construction of an angle equal to one third of a given arbitrary angle, using only two tools: an unmarked straightedge and a compass.
In Euclidean geometry, a cyclic quadrilateral or inscribed quadrilateral is a quadrilateral whose vertices all lie on a single circle. This circle is called the circumcircle or circumscribed circle, and the vertices are said to be concyclic. The center of the circle and its radius are called the circumcenter and the circumradius respectively. Other names for these quadrilaterals are concyclic quadrilateral and chordal quadrilateral, the latter since the sides of the quadrilateral are chords of the circumcircle. Usually the quadrilateral is assumed to be convex, but there are also crossed cyclic quadrilaterals. The formulas and properties given below are valid in the convex case.
Apollonius of Perga was an ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the earlier contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to the invention of analytic geometry. His definitions of the terms ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola are the ones in use today. With his predecessors Euclid and Archimedes, Apollonius is generally considered among the greatest mathematicians of antiquity.
In geometry, Thales's theorem states that if A, B, and C are distinct points on a circle where the line AC is a diameter, the angle ∠ ABC is a right angle. Thales's theorem is a special case of the inscribed angle theorem and is mentioned and proved as part of the 31st proposition in the third book of Euclid's Elements. It is generally attributed to Thales of Miletus, but it is sometimes attributed to Pythagoras.
In geometry, the incenter of a triangle is a triangle center, a point defined for any triangle in a way that is independent of the triangle's placement or scale. The incenter may be equivalently defined as the point where the internal angle bisectors of the triangle cross, as the point equidistant from the triangle's sides, as the junction point of the medial axis and innermost point of the grassfire transform of the triangle, and as the center point of the inscribed circle of the triangle.
In mathematics, a semicircle is a one-dimensional locus of points that forms half of a circle. It is a circular arc that measures 180°. It only has one line of symmetry.
In geometry, an arbelos is a plane region bounded by three semicircles with three apexes such that each corner of each semicircle is shared with one of the others (connected), all on the same side of a straight line that contains their diameters.
In hyperbolic geometry, two lines are said to be ultraparallel if they do not intersect and are not limiting parallel.
In geometry, the Pappus chain is a ring of circles between two tangent circles investigated by Pappus of Alexandria in the 3rd century AD.
In geometry, the Bankoff circle or Bankoff triplet circle is a certain Archimedean circle that can be constructed from an arbelos; an Archimedean circle is any circle with area equal to each of Archimedes' twin circles. The Bankoff circle was first constructed by Leon Bankoff in 1974.
In geometry, the Schoch line is a line defined from an arbelos and named by Peter Woo after Thomas Schoch, who had studied it in conjunction with the Schoch circles.
In geometry, Archimedes' quadruplets are four congruent circles associated with an arbelos. Introduced by Frank Power in the summer of 1998, each have the same area as Archimedes' twin circles, making them Archimedean circles.
The salinon is a geometrical figure that consists of four semicircles. It was first introduced in the Book of Lemmas, a work attributed to Archimedes.
In geometry, the Woo circles, introduced by Peter Y. Woo, are a set of infinitely many Archimedean circles.
In geometry, an Archimedean circle is any circle constructed from an arbelos that has the same radius as each of Archimedes' twin circles. If the arbelos is normed such that the diameter of its outer (largest) half circle has a length of 1 and r denotes the radius of any of the inner half circles, then the radius ρ of such an Archimedean circle is given by
The Book of Lemmas or Book of Assumptions is a book attributed to Archimedes by Thābit ibn Qurra, though the authorship of the book is questionable. It consists of fifteen propositions (lemmas) on circles.
In geometry, tangent circles are circles in a common plane that intersect in a single point. There are two types of tangency: internal and external. Many problems and constructions in geometry are related to tangent circles; such problems often have real-life applications such as trilateration and maximizing the use of materials.
The source for the claim that Archimedes studied and named the arbelos is the Book of Lemmas, also known as the Liber assumptorum from the title of the seventeenth century Latin translation of the ninth-century Arabic translation of the lost Greek original. Although this collection of fifteen propositions is included in standard editions of the works of Archimedes, the editors acknowledge that the author of the Book of Lemmas was not Archimedes but rather some anonymous later compiler, who indeed refers to Archimedes in the third person