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Geometry Difficulty 8.0 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

What is the maximum number of rational points that can lie on a circle in R2\mathbb{R}^2 whose center is not a rational point? (A \emph{rational point} is a point both of whose coordinates are rational numbers.)

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

There are at most two such points. For example,
the points (0,0)(0,0) and (1,0)(1,0) lie on a circle with center
(1/2,x)(1/2, x) for any real number xx, not necessarily rational.

On the other hand, suppose P=(a,b),Q=(c,d),R=(e,f)P = (a,b), Q = (c,d), R = (e,f)
are three rational points that lie
on a circle. The midpoint MM of the side PQPQ is
((a+c)/2,(b+d)/2)((a+c)/2, (b+d)/2), which is again rational. Moreover, the slope
of the line PQPQ is (db)/(ca)(d-b)/(c-a), so the slope of the line through
MM perpendicular to PQPQ is (ac)/(bd)(a-c)/(b-d), which is rational or infinite.

Similarly, if NN is the midpoint of QRQR, then NN is a rational point
and the line through NN perpendicular to QRQR has rational slope.
The center of the circle lies on both of these lines, so its
coordinates (g,h)(g,h) satisfy two linear equations with rational
coefficients, say Ag+Bh=CAg + Bh = C and Dg+Eh=FDg + Eh = F. Moreover,
these equations have a unique solution. That solution must then be
\begin{align*}
g &= (CE - BD)/(AE - BD) \\
h &= (AF - BC)/(AE - BD)
\end{align*}
(by elementary algebra, or Cramer's rule),
so the center of the circle is rational. This proves the desired result.

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