Given three circles centered at points $A$, $B$, and $C$ with non-zero radii of lengths $R_A$, $R_B$ and $R_C$. Where the centers of the circles form a valid triangle, and where the distance between any two centers is less than or equal to the sum of their corresponding radii.
Question: Is it possible to determine if all three circles intersect at a common point using a calculation simpler than first determining the pair of intersection points between two pairs of circles then determining if any of the intersection points are equal?
Best Answer
Don't know that it's much simpler than calculating the pairwise intersections, then the distances to the third center, but the following gives a symmetric condition using complex numbers.
Let $\,a,b,c\,$ be the complex numbers associated with points $A,B,C$ in a complex plane centered at the centroid of $ABC\,$, so that $a+b+c=0\,$.
The point of intersection $z$ of the three circles (if it exists) must satisfy the $3$ equations similar to:
$$ |z-a|^2=R_A^2 \;\;\iff\;\;(z-a)(\bar z - \bar a) = R_A^2 \;\;\iff\;\;|z|^2 - z \bar a - \bar z a + |a|^2 = R_A^2 \tag{1} $$
Writing $(1)$ for $a,b,c$ and summing the $3$ equations up:
$$ \require{cancel} 3\,|z|^2 - \cancel{z \sum_{cyc} \bar a} - \bcancel{\bar z \sum_{cyc} a} + \sum_{cyc}|a|^2 = \sum_{cyc} R_A^2 \;\;\implies\;\; |z|^2 = \frac{1}{3}\left(\sum_{cyc} R_A^2-\sum_{cyc}|a|^2\right) =R^2 \tag{2} $$
Substituting $(2)$ back into each of $(1)\,$:
$$ -|z|^2 + z \bar a + \bar z a - |a|^2 = - R_A^2 \;\;\iff\;\; z \cdot \bar a + \bar z \cdot a = |a|^2+R^2-R_A^2 \tag{3} $$
Considering $(3)$ as a system of linear equations in $z, \bar z\,$, the condition for it to have solutions is:
$$ \left| \begin{matrix} \;\bar a \;&\; a \;&\; |a|^2+R^2-R_A^2\; \\ \;\bar b \;&\; b \;&\; |b|^2+R^2-R_B^2\; \\ \;\bar c \;&\; c \;&\; |c|^2+R^2-R_C^2\; \end{matrix} \right| \;\;=\;\; 0 $$