Circles and Semicircles in Rectangle: What Is This About?
A Mathematical Droodle

As in one other case, I can't point to a definite source of the problem below. I stumbled upon it at the exceptional site Archimedes' Laboratory where the source was not mentioned. However, the problem is clearly in the Wasan spirit and resembles other sangaku problems.

The task is apparently to determine the ratio of the sides of the rectangle when the three small circles have the same radius.

Solution

Copyright © 1996-2008 Alexander Bogomolny

When the three small circles are congruent we arrive at the following diagram:

Assuming the long side of length 2a, the short side 2b and the radius of the small circles r, the Pythagorean theorem applied to one of the four right triangles with the right angle at the center of the diagram leads to the following equation:

(1)	b² + (a - r)² = (a + r)².

From which

r = b²/4a.

Since (observing the vertical midline) also r = a - b we obtain a quadratic equation linking a and b:

b² + 4ab - 4a² = 0,

solving which gives

b / a = 2 (√2 - 1).

or

a / b = (√2 + 1) / 2.

Now note that since r = a - b, b = a - r which says that in the diagram the triangles are isosceles and what looks like a square is a square indeed.

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