Seven unit circles are arranged in the center with eighteen smaller circles surrounding them. Find the radius of the smaller circles if all neighboring circles are tangent to one another.
Give your answer to 3 decimal places.
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In the right triangle O E A we have A E = 1 and O A = 2 so ∠ A O E = 3 0 ∘ and as a result ∠ E A F = 1 2 0 ∘ .
In triangle A E D the sides are A E = 1 , A D = 1 + R and the angle a = a r c c o s ( 1 + R 1 ) .
Triangles A D G , A G C , and A C F are all congruent. The angle b = a r c s i n ( 1 + R R ) .
The angle E A F = a + 3 b = a r c c o s ( 1 + R 1 ) + 3 a r c s i n ( 1 + R R ) = 1 2 0 .
This is an equation in R with the solution being R ≈ 0 . 6 2 6 .