English

The Six Circles Theorem revisited

Metric Geometry 2014-03-11 v2

Abstract

The Six Circles Theorem of C. Evelyn, G. Money-Coutts, and J. Tyrrell concerns chains of circles inscribed into a triangle: the first circle is inscribed in the first angle, the second circle is inscribed in the second angle and tangent to the first circle, the third circle is inscribed in the third angle and tangent to the second circle, and so on, cyclically. The theorem asserts that if all the circles touch the sides of the triangle, and not their extensions, then the chain is 6-periodic. We show that, in general, the chain is eventually 6-periodic but may have an arbitrarily long pre-period.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1312.5260,
  title  = {The Six Circles Theorem revisited},
  author = {Dennis Ivanov and Serge Tabachnikov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.5260},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

edited for better exposition

R2 v1 2026-06-22T02:30:48.185Z