pizer@ecsvax.UUCP (07/10/84)
Well, Matt Crawford solved my previous geometry puzzle, but don't think that's
all. The next puzzle is in some ways easier, but in other ways it is more
difficult. If you do solve it, you might consider waiting so that other
interested parties don't see the answer. This problem is also off a National
Math Exam from several years ago, and is also rather impossible to draw on
a CRT, however, again I will describe it. This time, you have 5 circles,
each externally tangent to the one next to it and decreasing in size. Each
circle is also externally tangent to lines L1 and L2, which are not parallel.
If this is difficult to picture, imagine L1 and L2 being a funnel, with
5 marbles caught inside, each one touching the funnel, and the one(s) next to
it. Anyway you are given that the radius of the large circle is 18, the radius
of the small circle is 8, and you are to find the radius of the circle in
the center. HINT: The answer is *NOT* 13! Good luck!
Billy Pizer
(mcnc!pizer@ecsvax)
{S&M forever (science and math, you perverts!)}