Find the minimum positive integral value of such that there exist points in with the property that there exist exactly distinct pairs of points unit apart and distinct pairs of points units apart.
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Firstly, since there are at least 16 different segments, we must have ( 2 n ) ≥ 1 6 , so n ≥ 7 . Furthermore, we can construct a set of 7 points which satisfies this:
This shape has coordinates A ( 0 , 0 , 0 ) , B ( 0 , 0 , 1 ) , C ( 0 , 1 , 0 ) , D ( 0 , 1 , 1 ) , E ( 2 1 , 2 1 , 2 1 ) , F ( 2 1 , 2 1 , 2 3 ) , G ( 3 2 7 , 2 1 , 6 1 ) . Here, we have A B = A C = B D = C D = A E = B E = C E = D E = D F = B F = E F = E G = 1 , F A = F C = G A = G C = 3 , and all other lengths can be verified to not be either of these two, so we're done.