Determine the smallest radius a circle passing through exactly three lattice points may have.
Solution
The required minimum is : the circle of radius , centered at passes through exactly three lattice points, namely, , and .
Next, consider a circle of radius at most passing through exactly three lattice points. We may and will assume that one of these lattice points is at the origin; let and be the other two.
Since the diameter of does not exceed , the integers , and are all at most .
If , then by non-collinearity, and must be even and , for otherwise would be a fourth lattice point on . Hence and (corresponding signs), and is either or . The case is ruled out by the fact that would be a fourth lattice point on , and the case is ruled out by the fact that the radius of would be .
Consequently, ; similarly, , , , , and .
It then follows that and are consecutive vertices of the hexagon with vertices at , , , , , or of its reflection in one of the coordinate axes. The radius of is whatsoever the case.