Sangaku with Three Mixtilinear Circles

Sangaku traditionally contained a diagram and a question concerning the diagram. Sometimes there were also instructions for constructing of the depicted objects and occasionally a solution to the problem. One such sangaku with a solution could be found in [Smith and Mikami, p. 185]:

There is a circle in which a triangle and three circles, A, B, C, are inscribed in the manner shown in the figure. Given the diameters of the three inscribed circles, required the diameter of the circumscribed circle.

(The three inscribed circles are the mixtilinear circles in the inscribed triangle. Each mixtilinear circle is inscribed in an angle and touches the circumcircle of the triangle. In the applet below, I labeled A, B, C the vertices of the triangle with understanding that the circles are also labeled A, B, C depending on the angle into which each is inscribed.)

The sangaku comes with a solution that is representative of the contemporary mathematical style:

Smith and Mikami note that to this rule is appended, with some note of pride, the words: "Feudal District of Kakegawa in Yenshu Province, third month of 1795, Miyajima Sonobei Keichi, pupil of Fujita Sadasuke of the School of Seki."

The rule can be translated as

The applet let's you verify that the rule does work.

References

1. D. E. Smith and Yoshio Mikami, A History of Japanese Mathematics, Dover, 2004 (originally 1914)

Sangaku

1. Sangaku: Reflections on the Phenomenon
2. Critique of My View and a Response
3. 1 + 27 = 12 + 16 Sangaku
4. 3-4-5 Triangle by a Kid
5. 7 = 2 + 5 Sangaku
6. A 49^th Degree Challenge
7. A Geometric Mean Sangaku
8. A Hard but Important Sangaku
9. A Sangaku: Two Unrelated Circles
10. A Sangaku by a Teen
11. A Sangaku Follow-Up on an Archimedes' Lemma
12. A Sangaku with an Egyptian Attachment
13. A Sangaku with Many Circles and Some
14. An Old Japanese Theorem
15. Archimedes Twins in the Edo Period
16. Arithmetic Mean Sangaku
17. Bottema Shatters Japan's Seclusion
18. Circles and Semicircles in Rectangle
19. Circles in a Circular Segment
20. Circles Lined on the Legs of a Right Triangle
21. Equal Incircles Theorem
22. Equilateral Triangle, Straight Line and Tangent Circles
23. Equilateral Triangles and Incircles in a Square
24. Five Incircles in a Square
25. Four Hinged Squares
26. Four Incircles in Equilateral Triangle
27. Gion Shrine Problem
28. Harmonic Mean Sangaku
29. Heron's Problem
30. In the Wasan Spirit
31. Incenters in Cyclic Quadrilateral
32. Japanese Art and Mathematics
33. Malfatti's Problem
34. Maximal Properties of the Pythagorean Relation
35. Neuberg Sangaku
36. Out of Pentagon Sangaku
37. Peacock Tail Sangaku
38. Pentagon Proportions Sangaku
39. Pythagoras and Vecten Break Japan's Isolation
40. Radius of a Circle by Paper Folding
41. Review of Sacred Mathematics
42. Sangaku ŕ la V. Thebault
43. Sangaku and The Egyptian Triangle
44. Sangaku in a Square
45. Sangaku Iterations, Is it Wasan?
46. Sangaku with 8 Circles
47. Sangaku with Three Mixtilinear Circles
48. Sangaku with Versines
49. Sangakus with a Mixtilinear Circle
50. Sequences of Touching Circles
51. Square and Circle in a Gothic Cupola
52. Tangent Circles and an Isosceles Triangle
53. The Squinting Eyes Theorem
54. Steiner's Sangaku
55. Three Incircles In a Right Triangle
56. Three Squares and Two Ellipses
57. Three Tangent Circles Sangaku
58. Triangles, Squares and Areas from Temple Geometry
59. Two Arbelos, Two Chains
60. Two Circles in an Angle

Copyright © 1996-2008 Alexander Bogomolny