Here is a challenging problem for anyone with an interest in geometry. This project requires background research to solve it, but it is an excellent illustration of visual thinking in mathematics.
The chain of inscribed circles is sometimes called a Pappus Chain, for Pappus of Alexandria, who studied and wrote about it in the 4th century A.D. The inscribed circles are tangent to one another, and to the boundaries of the arbelos. That is, iC1 is tangent to each of the three semicircles that form the boundary of the arbelos, while each successive circle is tangent to the preceding one and to two of the semicircles that bound the arbelos (note that, in its default position, the figure illustrates just one of three possible configurations of the chain). Pappus proved a theorem (which he called "ancient"), which states that the height, hn, of the center of the nth inscribed circle, iCn, above the line segment AC is equal to n times the diameter of iCn.
Pappus' proof, relying solely on Euclidean geometry, ran over many pages. The modern proof is much simpler and uses the powerful method of circle inversion, invented in the 1820's by Jacob Steiner. Try manipulating the figure by clicking and dragging one of the orange points, A, or B. Note that as you do this, not only do you re-size the arbelos and the chain of inscribed circles, you also cause the corresponding black point, A' or B', to move as well. Point A' is the inverse of point A, and point B' is the inverse of point B, both points having been inverted through a circle whose center is at point C.
Your goal is to gain a sufficient understanding of the principles of circle inversion and their application to the arbelos so that you can demonstrate to yourself and others that the statements in the preceding two paragraphs are indeed true. Then, using these facts and an additional insight or two, prove Pappus' Theorem:
hn = n × diameter(iCn).