Determine all positive integers for which the sphere
has an inscribed regular tetrahedron whose vertices have integer coordinates.
Solution
The integers with this property are those of the form for some positive integer .
In one direction, for , the points
form the vertices of a regular tetrahedron inscribed in the sphere .
Conversely, suppose that for are the vertices of an inscribed regular
tetrahedron. Then the center of this tetrahedron must equal the center of the sphere, namely . Consequently, these four vertices together with for form the vertices of an inscribed cube in the sphere.
The side length of this cube is , so its volume is ;
on the other hand, this volume also equals the determinant of the matrix
with row vectors , which is an integer. Hence is a perfect square, as then is .
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