Problem:
A line in the Cartesian plane is called stable if it passes through at least two points such that and are rational numbers. Prove or disprove: every point lies on some stable line.
Solution
Solution:
The assertion is false: we will show that the point does not lie on a stable line.
Note that the slope of any stable line must be a rational number. Now assume for contradiction that lies on a stable line through , where and are both rational. Then for some rational number , which leads us to
Since is not rational, we must have . Then, squaring both sides gives
Since this implies is irrational, which is a contradiction.
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