Take a circle with known radius and rotate it around a point of the circunsference.

How long is the segment that joins

the two points where the new and the old circunsferece intersect?
y

This figure shows the problem we are facing. The angle is the angle between two vectors pointing to the center of two
given circles. The circles intersect themselves in two points, one being the origin and the other is the point we want to
identify. Lets first consider the problem with a radius equal to the unit. In this case the two given circles are described
by the following equations:
(x 1)2 + y 2 = 1
2

(x xj ) + (y yj ) = 1

(1)
(2)

Where (xj , yj ) is the new position of the center. We can expand this equations and substract them each other to get the
next line equation:
2
2
2
2
x2 2xxj + x2j + yS
S 2yyj + yj x + 2x 1 yS
S = 1
A 1
A

2 
2
(x

+ 2Ax 2Axxj 2Ayyj = 0
j + yj ) 1


x(1 xj ) yyj = 0

x=

yj
y
1x

(3)

In which we have used the fact that (x2j + yj2 ) = 1. This equation describes the line that goes across the two intersection

points. With this equation and equation (2) we can find the point we are looking for.
(

yj
y 1)2 + y 2 = 1
1 xj

yj2 + (1 xj )2 2
yj
y 2
y + 1
= 1

2
(1 xj )
1 xj
2

}|
{
z
yj2 + 1 + x2j 2xj 2
yj
y 2
y=0
(1 xj )2
1 xj
yj
2
(1

x
j) 2
A
y 2A
y=0
2
1

xj
(1 xj )

y
(y yj ) = 0
1 xj

(4)
y2

j
, yj ). Evenmore, we can
Using the last equation and the line equation we find that the intersection can be found at ( 1x
get the radius of a circle with center at (0,0) that includes the second intersection point.
v
u
2
u z
v
}|
{
u
s
!2
u
2
2
u
2
2
2
u
y
y
(
1
+
x
+
y
2yj2
(1

x
t j
j
j 2xj )
j
j)
t
2
r=
+ yj =
=
2
2
1x
(1 xj )
(1 xj )

s
r=

2yj2
1 xj

(5)

If we remember some elemental trigonometry and notice the fact that we are using unit length circles, we can rewrite the
former as:
v
u 4
v
s
u






u
 
2
2

2
2
u 8
 cos2
sin
u
sin
8
cos
2 sin ()

t
2
2
2 
2
u
r=
=
=
= 2 cos
X
2
2
X
sin
1 cos() u
2
2
sin
)
(
X


2
u
2X
uz
}|  {
u

t
1 cos2
+ sin2 2
2
 

r = 2 cos
2

(6)

Hence, we have found the ratio between a circles radius and the radius of a circle with center at (0,0) that includes the
second intersection point. Said radii are quite important in the design of Sun and Moon board, also knowing the position
of each star is a requirement when developing a GUI for a digital version of said game. To get the correct coordinates
we must multiply the radius by the sine and cosine of the angle, which happens to be 2 The next tables gathers the
information of this concerning ratios.

Position Constants
A
p

( 12 , 22 3 )

( 12 3 ,

31
2 )

( 22 3 , 12 )

31
2 ,

( 12 ,

32
2 )

31 1 3
2 ,
2 )

3
2 )

( 22 3 , 12 )

32
1
2 , 2)

4
5

( 12 3 , 12 3 )
( 12 ,

32
2 )

2+ 3

( 12 3 ,

(0, 1)

31
2 ,

(0, 3)

3+1
2 )
3+1
2 )

(1, 1)

3
2 )

(1, 0)

( 32 ,

( 12 ,

3
2 )

(0, 1)

3+1
2 ,

3
1
2 , 2)

( 12 ,

3
2 )

(1, 0)

3
2 )

3+1 1 3
2 ,
2 )

( 32 ,

(1, 1)

1 3
( 31
,
)
2
2

31 1 3
,
)
2
2

3
3
2 , 2)

(0, 3)
( 32 ,

3
2 )

(1, 1)
( 12
( 12

3 1 3
, 2 )
3

31
2 )

3
3
2 , 2)

( 3, 0)
( 32 ,

3
2 )

3+1
2 )

(0, 2)
(1,

3)

( 3, 1)

( 2+2 3 , 12 )

3
2 )

3+1
2 ,

( 2+2 3 , 12 )

( 3, 0)

31
2 )

3
1
2 , 2)

( 12 , 2+2 3 )

3 3
2 , 2)

( 12 , 2+2 3 )

3 1
2 , 2)

( 12 ,

3 3
2 , 2)

( 12 , 22 3 )

(1, 1)

31
2 )

3 1
2 , 2)

( 12 ,

32 1
2 , 2)

3+1
2 ,

( 12 , 22

3+1
2 )

( 21 , 22 3 )

( 12

3 1 3
, 2 )

( 22

, 12 )

( 3, 1)

(1, 3)
(0, 2)

(1, 3)

( 3, 1)
(2, 0)

3 1
, 2)

( 3, 1)

3 1 3
, 2 )

(1, 3)

( 22
( 12

(2, 0)

Position Constants
A

0.518

1.414

1.732

1.932

(0.5, 0.134)

(0.866, 0.5)

(1, 1)

(0.866, 1.5)

(0.5, 1.866)

(0, 2)

(0.366, 0.366)

(0.5, 0.866)

(0.366, 1.366)

(0, 1.732)

(0.5, 1.866)

(1, 1.732)

(0.134, 0.5)

(0, 1)

(0.366, 1.366)

(1.5, 0.866)

(1.366, 1.366)

(1.732, 1)

(0.134, 0.5)

(0.866, 0.5)

(1, 1)

(0.866, 1.5)

(1.866, 0.5)

(2, 0)

(0.366, 0.366)

(0.5, 0.866)

(1.366, 0.366)

(1.732, 0)

(1.866, 0.5)

(1.732, 1)

(0.5, 0.134)

(1, 0)

(1.366, 0.366)

(1.5, 0.866)

(1.366, 1.366)

(1, 1.732)

(0.5, 0.134)

(0.866, 0.5)

(1, 1)

(0.866, 1.5)

(0.5, 1.866)

(0, 2)

(0.366, 0.366)

(0.5, 0.866)

(0.366, 1.366)

(0, 1.732)

(0.5, 1.866)

(1, 1.732)

(0.134, 0.5)

(0, 1)

(0.366, 1.366)

(1.5, 0.866)

(1.366, 1.366)

(1.732, 1)

(0.134, 0.5)

(0.866, 0.5)

(1, 1)

(0.866, 1.5)

(1.866, 0.5)

(2, 0)

(0.366, 0.366)

(0.5, 0.866)

(1.366, 0.366)

(1.732, 0)

(1.866, 0.5)

(1.732, 1)

(0.5, 0.134)

(1, 0)

(1.366, 0.366)

(1.5, 0.866)

(1.366, 1.366)

(1, 1.732)

APPENDICES
p

A) Show that

42 3=

3 1:
q

But 3 =

42 3=

1+32 3

3 and 1 = 12 . Therefore:
q
q

1 + 3 2 3 = ( 3 1)2

B) Table of useful sine and cosine

sine
0
15
22.5
30
45
60
67.5
75
90

exact
value
0

2 3
2
2 2
2
1
2
2
2
3
2
2+ 2
2
2+ 3
2

cosine

approx.

sine

90

75

0.289

15

67.5
60
45
30

0.383
0.5
0.707
0.866

22.5
30
45
60

22.5

0.924

67.5

15
0

0.966
1

75
90