9.5. Given 10 distinct non-zero numbers, the sum or product of any two of them is a rational number. Prove: the square of each number is a rational number.
Problem 1218
Official solution
9.5. Proof 1: If all the numbers are rational, the proposition naturally holds.
Now suppose that among the 10 numbers, there is an irrational number , then the other numbers are of the form or , where is a rational number.
We will prove that there are no more than 2 numbers of the form .
Indeed, if there are 3 different numbers of this form, let's assume . Then, it is easy to see that is not a rational number. Therefore, should be a rational number.
Similarly, and are also rational numbers.
This means,
are all rational numbers, thus, is a rational number. This is only possible when . Therefore, , which is a contradiction.
From the above, we know that there are more than 2 numbers of the form .
Let be 3 such numbers. Clearly, only when , can be a rational number, and , so is an irrational number. Therefore, is a rational number, which implies that is a rational number.
Proof 2: Consider any 6 of the numbers.
Construct a graph, placing these 6 numbers on its 6 vertices. If the sum of any 2 numbers is a rational number, connect the corresponding 2 vertices with a blue edge; if the product of any 2 numbers is a rational number, connect the corresponding 2 vertices with a red edge. It is well known that in such a graph, there exists a triangle with all three sides of the same color. We will discuss the various cases.
(1) If there is a blue triangle, then there exist 3 numbers such that are all rational numbers. Therefore,
is a rational number, i.e., is a rational number.
Similarly, are also rational numbers.
Now consider any other number . Clearly, whether by the rationality of (the problem states that all numbers are non-zero), or by the rationality of , it can be deduced that is a rational number.
Therefore, in this case, all 10 numbers are rational.
(2) If there is a red triangle, then there exist 3 numbers such that are all rational numbers. Therefore, is a rational number.
Similarly, are also rational numbers.
If at least one of is a rational number, then by discussing the previous case, it can be concluded that all 10 numbers are rational.
Now assume , where is a rational number, and .
Since is a rational number, we have,
where is a rational number.
Now consider any other number . If or is a rational number, then after a similar discussion, it can be concluded that , where is a rational number. Therefore, is a rational number.
If are both rational numbers, then
is a rational number. But in fact,
is an irrational number, which is a contradiction.
In summary, either each number is a rational number, or the square of each number is a rational number, which is exactly what we need to prove.