Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 299 of 300 #1699 of 1964

Problem 1699

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 8.0 Find the answer putnam

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, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official 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
g=(CEBD)/(AEBD)h=(AFBC)/(AEBD)\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.

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