I have the following conjectures.
Conjecture 1:
Hypotheses:
Let $P = (v_1, v_2, …. v_n)$ be a (convex or concave) polygon drawn on a plane.
The lengths of the edges $(v_1, v_2)$, $(v_2, v_3)$ ... $(v_n, v_1)$ are all rational numbers.
Conclusion:
- There exists a point $x$ inside the polygon with rational coordinates such that the euclidean distances between the pairs $(x,v_1), (x,v_2), … (x,v_n)$ are all rational numbers.
Conjecture 2:
Hypotheses:
Let $P = (v_1, v_2, …. v_n)$ be a (convex or concave) polygon drawn on a plane.
The lengths of the edges $(v_1, v_2)$, $(v_2, v_3)$ ... $(v_n, v_1)$ are all rational numbers.
The co-ordinates of the vertices $v_1, v_2, …. v_n$ are all rational numbers.
Conclusion:
- There exists a point $x$ inside the polygon with rational coordinates such that the euclidean distances between the pairs $(x,v_1), (x,v_2), … (x,v_n)$ are all rational numbers.
The above conjectures sound like a very natural topology problems. Note that the Conjecture 1 implies the Conjecture 2.
What I know so far:
The above conjectures are true for $n=3$. This follows from the following theorem.
Theorem: The set of points with rational distances to the vertices of a given triangle with sides of rational length is everywhere dense.
Conjecture 1 is false for $n > 3$. For a proof, see Robert Kleinberg's comment on my blogpost.
Questions about Conjecture 2:
Is it true for $n=4$ ?
Is it true for convex polygons ?
Is it true for convex polygon with $n=4$ ?
Is it true for any other special cases ?
Are there any known generalizations to higher dimensions?
A very special case I am very interested in:
Let $Q = (v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4)$ be a polygon.
The co-ordinates of the vertices $v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4$ are all rational numbers.
The lengths of the edges $(v_1, v_2)$, $(v_2, v_3)$, $(v_3, v_4)$ and $(v_4, v_1)$ are all rational numbers.
The distance between $v_1$ and $v_3$ is rational.
Conjecture Q1: There exists a point $x$ with rational coordinates inside $Q$ such that the euclidean distances between the pairs $(x,v_1), (x,v_2), (x,v_3), (x,v_4)$ are all rational numbers.
Conjecture Q2: Same as Conjecture Q1 when the polygon $Q$ is convex.