Suppose ABC is a triangle with circumcenter O and orthocenter H such that A,B,C,O, and H are all on distinct points with integer coordinates. What is the second smallest possible value of the circumradius of ABC ?
A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.
Solution
Assume without loss of generality that the circumcenter is at the origin. By well known properties of the Euler line, the centroid G is such that O,G, and H are collinear, with G in between O and H, such that GH=2GO. Thus, since G=31(A+B+C), and we are assuming O is the origin, we have H=A+B+C. This means that as long as A,B, and C are integer points, H will be as well. However, since H needs to be distinct from A,B, and C, we must have \triangle A B Cnotbearighttriangle,sinceinrighttriangles,theorthocenteristhevertexwheretherightangleis.Now,ifacirclecenteredattheoriginhasanyintegerpoints,itwillhaveatleastfourintegerpoints.(Ifithasapointoftheform(a, 0),thenitwillalsohave(-a, 0),(0, a),and(0,-a).Ifithasapointoftheform(a, b),witha, b \neq 0,itwillhaveeachpointoftheform( \pm a, \pm b).)Butinanyofthesecaseswherethereareonlyfourpoints,anytrianglewhichcanbemadefromthosepointsisarighttriangle.Thusweneedthecircumcircletocontainatleasteightlatticepoints.Thesmallestradiusthisoccursatis12+22=5, which contains the eight points (±1,±2) and (±2,±1). We get at least one valid triangle with this circumradius: A=(−1,2),B=(1,2),C=(2,1) The next valid circumradius is \sqrt{1^{2}+3^{2}}=\sqrt{10}whichhasthevalidtriangleA=(−1,3),B=(1,3),C=(3,1)$
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