MathDB
Nice property of "almost" lattice points

Source: German TST 2004, IMO ShortList 2003, combinatorics problem 5

May 18, 2004
geometrycoordinate geometrycirclescoordinatesTrianglecombinatoricsIMO Shortlist

Problem Statement

Every point with integer coordinates in the plane is the center of a disk with radius 1/10001/1000.
(1) Prove that there exists an equilateral triangle whose vertices lie in different discs.
(2) Prove that every equilateral triangle with vertices in different discs has side-length greater than 9696.
Radu Gologan, Romania [hide="Remark"] The "> 96" in (b) can be strengthened to "> 124". By the way, part (a) of this problem is the place where I used [url=http://mathlinks.ro/viewtopic.php?t=5537]the well-known "Dedekind" theorem.