Problem:
How many equilateral hexagons of side length have one vertex at and the other five vertices at lattice points?
(A lattice point is a point whose Cartesian coordinates are both integers. A hexagon may be concave but not self-intersecting.)
Problem:
How many equilateral hexagons of side length have one vertex at and the other five vertices at lattice points?
(A lattice point is a point whose Cartesian coordinates are both integers. A hexagon may be concave but not self-intersecting.)
Solution:
We perform casework on the point three vertices away from . By inspection, that point can be or their reflections across the line . The cases are as follows:
If the third vertex is at any of or , then there are 7 possible hexagons. There are 8 points of this form, contributing 56 hexagons.
If the third vertex is at any of or , there are 6 possible hexagons, contributing 48 hexagons.
If the third vertex is at any of or , there are again 6 possible hexagons, contributing 48 more hexagons.
If the third vertex is at any of or , then there are again 6 possible hexagons, contributing 48 more hexagons.
Finally, if the third vertex is at any of , then there are 2 possible hexagons only, contributing 16 hexagons.
Adding up, we get our answer of 216.