Algorithm for placing circles of Diameter d around the edge of another circle with diameter D Hi i'm struggling with what i think may be simple maths. I need to place circles of a small size around the edge of larger circle.. is there an algorithm to calculate the angle for each small circle from the x-axis, counter clockwise? then using this angle i can find the Cartesian coordinates (x,y) of the enter of each circle.
Circles centers form isosceles triangle with base of length $2r$ and arms of length $R+r$, so
$ \tan (\frac{\beta}{2}) = \frac { r}{ r+R} $ hance $\beta = 2\arctan(\frac{r}{r+R}) $