In a circular ring with radii and , where , we put non overlapping circles of radius tangent to the circles defining the circular ring. Determine the maximal number of these circles. (It is given that )
Solution
Let we can put non overlapping circles into the given circular ring tangent to its border. The circle has length greater than the perimeter of the polygon with vertices the centers of the circles , and therefore:

Figure 2
Figure 3
Let is tangent from to one of the circles . Then
The circle is tangent to the sides of the polygon line and we have
From (1) and (2) it follows that:
from which, because of the hypothesis , we find
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