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Peculiar Plane Points? (Posted on 2005-08-03) Difficulty: 4 of 5
Given three points on a plane, at rational distances from each other, can you always find at least another point in the same plane such that the distances to the other three are also rational?

  Submitted by Old Original Oskar!    
Rating: 3.0000 (1 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
If the three points are on a line, the answer is obviously "yes".

If the three points determine an equilateral triangle, their coordinates can be (0,0), (1,0) and (½,½√3), so taking the fourth point at (52/49, (12√3)/49) solves the problem.

Finally, if the points form any other triangle, we can set A(0,0), B(c,0) y C(p,q), with b=AC and a=BC, having a≠b. We find p=(c²+b²-a²)/2c. Taking p'=c-p we find D(p',q) such that DA=a, BD=b, and DC=|p-p'|.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
Solutionthe rest of my solutionJosh706792005-08-03 22:42:34
Some Thoughtsnot quite a solutionJosh706792005-08-03 20:56:05
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