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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Determine the smallest radius a circle passing through exactly three lattice points may have.

Solution

The required minimum is 52/65\sqrt{2}/6: the circle of radius 52/65\sqrt{2}/6, centered at (5/6,5/6)(5/6, 5/6) passes through exactly three lattice points, namely, (0,0)(0, 0), (1,2)(1, 2) and (2,1)(2, 1).

Next, consider a circle ω\omega of radius at most 52/65\sqrt{2}/6 passing through exactly three lattice points. We may and will assume that one of these lattice points is at the origin; let (m,n)(m, n) and (p,q)(p, q) be the other two.
Since the diameter of ω\omega does not exceed 52/35\sqrt{2}/3, the integers m2+n2m^2 + n^2, p2+q2p^2 + q^2 and (mp)2+(nq)2(m-p)^2 + (n-q)^2 are all at most 55.

If m=0m = 0, then p0p \neq 0 by non-collinearity, and n0n \neq 0 must be even and q=n/2q = n/2, for otherwise (p,nq)(p, n-q) would be a fourth lattice point on ω\omega. Hence n=±2n = \pm 2 and q=±1q = \pm 1 (corresponding signs), and p|p| is either 11 or 22. The case p=1|p| = 1 is ruled out by the fact that (p,q)(-p, q) would be a fourth lattice point on ω\omega, and the case p=2|p| = 2 is ruled out by the fact that the radius of ω\omega would be 5/4>52/65/4 > 5\sqrt{2}/6.
Consequently, m0m \neq 0; similarly, n0n \neq 0, p0p \neq 0, q0q \neq 0, mpm \neq p, and nqn \neq q.
It then follows that (m,n)(m, n) and (p,q)(p, q) are consecutive vertices of the hexagon with vertices at (2,1)(2, 1), (1,2)(1, 2), (1,1)(-1, 1), (2,1)(-2, -1), (1,2)(-1, -2), (1,1)(1, -1) or of its reflection in one of the coordinate axes. The radius of ω\omega is 52/65\sqrt{2}/6 whatsoever the case.

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