Answer: 126.
Let 1,2,3,…,21 be points on a circle in clockwise order and let us use the following notation.
a1b1c1d1e1f1g1=1,=4,=7,=10,=13,=16,=19,a2b2c2d2e2f2g2=8,=11,=14,=17,=20,=2,=5,a3b3c3d3e3f3g3=15=18=21=3=6=9=12
Then we can take only one ai. This means the seven points must be ai,bj,ck,dl,em,fn,gt. In order to not have 3 unit arc distance, we must have
i=j,j=k,k=l,l=m,m=n,n=t,t=i.
The total occurrence number of ai,bj,ck,dl,em,fn,gt is 37.
Now let us use inclusion-exclusion principle, to count an occurrence numbers at least one index is equal. Let A1 be the set of all occurrences with i=j. Let A2 be the set of all occurrences with j=k, et cetera, and let A7 be the set of all occurrences with t=i. Then we have
∣A1∪A2∪⋯∪A7∣=∑∣Ai∣−∑∣Ai∩Aj∣+⋯−∣A1∩A2∩⋯∩A7∣.
Here we have
∑∣Ai∣∑∣Ai∩Aj∣∑∣Ai∩Aj∩Ak∣∑∣Ai∩Aj∩Ak∩Al∣∑∣Ai∩Aj∩Ak∩Al∩Am∣∑∣Ai∩Aj∩Ak∩Al∩Am∩An∣∣A1∩A2∩⋯∩A7∣=C71⋅36=C72⋅35=C73⋅34=C74⋅33=C75⋅32=C76⋅3=3.
Hence, the number of configurations satisfying the condition is
37−C71⋅36+C72⋅35−C73⋅34+C74⋅33−C75⋅32+C76⋅3−3=(3−1)7−2=126.