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Tangent circles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

P. Stanley
P. Stanley*
Affiliation:
Manchester School of Engineering, Simon Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester Ml3 9PL
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Extract

The work presented here was prompted by curiosity concerning a structural detail of the ironwork supporting the overhead cover of the railway platform at Stockport, Cheshire. The detail – see the front cover which shows the roof support – comprises an elliptical ‘quadrant’ joined to vertical and horizontal members of the supporting structure, with a circular ring fitted interstitially so as to touch the elliptical arc and the two straight members. The question arises: what is the radius of the circular ring in terms of the parameters of the ellipse?

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 86 , Issue 507 , November 2002 , pp. 386 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2002

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References

1. Aste, T. and Weaire, D., The pursuit of perfect packing, IOP Publishing Ltd., Bristol (2000).Google Scholar
2. Wells, D., The Penguin dictionary of curious and interesting geometry, Penguin Books (1991).Google Scholar