geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

, two or more

objects Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ai ...

are said to be concentric, coaxal, or coaxial when they share the same center or axis.

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

s, regular polygons and regular polyhedra, and

sphere A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the c ...

s may be concentric to one another (sharing the same center point), as may cylinders (sharing the same central axis).

Geometric properties

In the

Euclidean plane In mathematics, the Euclidean plane is a Euclidean space of dimension two. That is, a geometric setting in which two real quantities are required to determine the position of each point ( element of the plane), which includes affine notions ...

, two circles that are concentric necessarily have different radii from each other.. However, circles in three-dimensional space may be concentric, and have the same radius as each other, but nevertheless be different circles. For example, two different meridians of a terrestrial globe are concentric with each other and with the globe of the earth (approximated as a sphere). More generally, every two

great circle In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spherical geome ...

s on a sphere are concentric with each other and with the sphere. By

Euler's theorem in geometry In geometry, Euler's theorem states that the distance ''d'' between the circumcenter and incenter of a triangle is given by d^2=R (R-2r) or equivalently \frac + \frac = \frac, where R and r denote the circumradius and inradius respectively (the ...

on the distance between the circumcenter and incenter of a triangle, two concentric circles (with that distance being zero) are the circumcircle and incircle of a triangle

if and only if In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bic ...

the radius of one is twice the radius of the other, in which case the triangle is equilateral. The circumcircle and the incircle of a regular ''n''-gon, and the regular ''n''-gon itself, are concentric. For the circumradius-to-inradius ratio for various ''n'', see Bicentric polygon#Regular polygons. The same can be said of a regular polyhedron's insphere, midsphere and

circumsphere In geometry, a circumscribed sphere of a polyhedron is a sphere that contains the polyhedron and touches each of the polyhedron's vertices. The word circumsphere is sometimes used to mean the same thing, by analogy with the term ''circumcirc ...

. The region of the plane between two concentric circles is an

annulus Annulus (or anulus) or annular indicates a ring- or donut-shaped area or structure. It may refer to: Human anatomy * ''Anulus fibrosus disci intervertebralis'', spinal structure * Annulus of Zinn, a.k.a. annular tendon or ''anulus tendineus com ...

, and analogously the region of space between two concentric spheres is a spherical shell.. For a given point ''c'' in the plane, the set of all circles having ''c'' as their center forms a pencil of circles. Each two circles in the pencil are concentric, and have different radii. Every point in the plane, except for the shared center, belongs to exactly one of the circles in the pencil. Every two disjoint circles, and every hyperbolic pencil of circles, may be transformed into a set of concentric circles by a Möbius transformation.

Applications and examples

The ripples formed by dropping a small object into still water naturally form an expanding system of concentric circles. Evenly spaced circles on the targets used in target archery or similar sports provide another familiar example of concentric circles. Coaxial cable is a type of electrical cable in which the combined neutral and earth core completely surrounds the live core(s) in system of concentric cylindrical shells.

Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws ...

's '' Mysterium Cosmographicum'' envisioned a cosmological system formed by concentric regular polyhedra and spheres.. Concentric circles are also found in diopter sights, a type of mechanic sights commonly found on target rifles. They usually feature a large disk with a small-diameter hole near the shooter's eye, and a front globe sight (a circle contained inside another circle, called ''tunnel''). When these sights are correctly aligned, the point of impact will be in the middle of the front sight circle.

References

{{reflist

External links

*Geometry
Concentric circles demonstration
With interactive animation Geometric centers

Geometric properties

Applications and examples

See also

References

External links