About two characteristic points concerning two circles and their use in study of bicentric polygons (Q2255391)

Let \({\mathcal C}_ 1\) and \({\mathcal C}_ 2\) be two nested circles with radius \(R\) and \(r\), respectively, and let \(d\) denote the distance of their centers. Algebraically, this means \(r + d < R\). More than two hundred years ago, the Swiss mathematician N. Fuss found, for \(n \leq 8\), algebraic relations between \(R, r\) and \(d\) which assure that there exists an \(n\)-sided polygon inscribed in \({\mathcal C}_ 1\) and circumscribed around \({\mathcal C}_ 2\). These relations may be written in the form \(F_ n(R,r,d) = 0\). The existence question for such polygons also makes sense for disjoint circles which lie outside each other, algebraically this means \(R + r < d\). The author proves the amazing result that the relations \(F_ n(R,r,d)= 0\) and \(F_ n (d,r,R) = 0\) are equivalent.