Necklace of circles (noch nicht übersetzt)

Problem 428

Let a, b and c be positive numbers.
Let W, X, Y, Z be four collinear points where |WX| = a, |XY| = b, |YZ| = c and |WZ| = a + b + c.
Let Cin be the circle having the diameter XY.
Let Cout be the circle having the diameter WZ.

The triplet (a, b, c) is called a necklace triplet if you can place k ≥ 3 distinct circles C1, C2, ..., Ck such that:

  • Ci has no common interior points with any Cj for 1 ≤ i, jk and ij,
  • Ci is tangent to both Cin and Cout for 1 ≤ ik,
  • Ci is tangent to Ci+1 for 1 ≤ i < k, and
  • Ck is tangent to C1.

For example, (5, 5, 5) and (4, 3, 21) are necklace triplets, while it can be shown that (2, 2, 5) is not.

p428_necklace.png

Let T(n) be the number of necklace triplets (a, b, c) such that a, b and c are positive integers, and bn. For example, T(1) = 9, T(20) = 732 and T(3000) = 438106.

Find T(1 000 000 000).