[Math] Two tangent circles are inscribed in a semicircle, one touching the diameter’s midpoint; find the radius of the smaller circle

circles

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I am unable to upload the image of my trials.

I assumed the radius of small circle is $x,$ horizontal distance between the centers of two circles is $y.$

I have joined the centers of the two circles and the length is $(5+x).$

I have drawn a vertical line from the center of the bigger circle to the center of the semi circle.

I have also drawn a horizontal line from the center of the small circle to the above line.

Then, by applying Pythagoras theorem, I get
$$(x+5)^2=(5-x)^2 + y^2.$$ I need one more equation to solve for $x.$

Intuitively I wonder if the radius of the small circle could be half of the big circle. I carefully constructed it and got $2.5 cm$ as the radius but I am not sure.

Best Answer

Let $R$ be the (known) radius of the large inscribed circle, $r$ the radius of the small inscribed circle, and $(x,r)$ the center of this small circle. Then one has the two equations $$x^2+(R-r)^2=(R+r)^2,\qquad\sqrt{x^2+r^2}+ r=2R$$ in the two unknowns $r$ and $x$.