Determine the largest integer which is the side length of a square tile which can be used to completely tile a rectangle that is inscribed in a circle of radius .
Solution
Let be the side length of the square tile. If the rectangle is completely tiled with such square tiles, there exist integers such that the side lengths of the rectangle are and . We let denote the radius of the circle.

The diagonals of the rectangle are diameters of the circle and so their length is . Applying Pythagoras to the right angled triangle obtained by cutting the rectangle along one of its diagonals, we obtain
As are integers, this implies that is a factor of and so is an integer that satisfies . Because we are to find the largest possible , we are interested in the smallest that divides and which appears as the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle with integer side lengths.
The positive divisors of are and . Because , , and all other sums of two positive squares are greater than , we confirm that none of the numbers , and is the sum of two non-zero squares. This rules out for . Therefore, is at least .
When , we can use and to get . In this case we obtain . The side lengths of the rectangle are then equal to and . Such a rectangle is indeed inscribed into a circle of radius , because which is just times .

Therefore, the largest possible integer side length of a square tile that can be used to completely tile a rectangle that is inscribed in a circle of radius is equal to .