Integer triangles with a rational ratio of circumcircle radius to excircle radius

Abstract

We consider the problem of finding integer triangles with $R/r$ a positive rational, where $R$ and $r$ are the radii of the circumcircle and an excircle, respectively. We show that for general triangles $R/r>1/4$ applies. The equation $R/r=N$ turns out to be related to the elliptic curve $\mathcal{E}_N$ given by $v^2=u^3+2(2N^2+2N-1)u^2-(4N-1)u$. If $N>1/4$ is rational, then the torsion group of $\mathcal{E}_N$ is $\mathbb Z/2\mathbb Z\times\mathbb Z/6\mathbb Z$ if $N(N+2)$ is a square and $\mathbb Z/6\mathbb Z$ otherwise. We show that a rational triangle with rational ratio $R/r=N$ exists if and only if $N>1/4$ and there exists a rational non-torsion point on the curve $\mathcal{E}_N$ which satisfies a certain condition. Furthermore, we show that the rank of $\mathcal{E}_N$ is positive when $N = m^2 \pm 1>1/4$ for a rational $m$. We also show that on every curve $\mathcal{E}_N$ whose rank is positive, there are infinitely many rational points which lead to infinitely many non-similar integer triangles with $R/r=N$.