Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

Example 1 What is the maximum number of rational points (points with both coordinates being rational numbers) that can lie on a circle in the plane, given that the center of the circle is not a rational point.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

【Analysis】If A,B,CA, B, C are three rational points on a circle,
then the midpoint DD of ABAB is a rational point, the slope of ABAB is a rational number or infinite, so the equation of the perpendicular bisector of ABAB is a linear equation with rational coefficients. Similarly, the equation of the perpendicular bisector of BCBC is also a linear equation with rational coefficients. Therefore, the intersection of the perpendicular bisector of ABAB and the perpendicular bisector of BCBC is a rational point, i.e., the center of the circle is a rational point, which does not meet the condition.

Two examples of rational points: (0,0)(0,0) and (1,0)(1,0), the center of the circle is (12,2)\left(\frac{1}{2}, \sqrt{2}\right), which satisfies the condition.

Therefore, at most two rational points can exist on a circle such that the center of the circle is not a rational point.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.