Three distinct distances in the plane (Q1919279)

The following question is known: What is the minimum number \(f(n)\) of distances which are determined by \(n\) (distinct) points? (Erdös problem) A generally upper bound for \(f(n)\) is given by \textit{P. Erdös} [Am. Math. Monthly 53, 248-250 (1946; Zbl 0060.34805)] and a lower bound by \textit{F. R. K. Chung}, \textit{E. Szemerédi} and \textit{W. T. Trotter} [Discrete Comput. Geom. 7, No. 1, 1-11 (1992; Zbl 0755.52005)]. Known values for \(f(n)\) are \(f(3)=1\), \(f(4) = f(5)=2\) and \(f(6) = f(7)=3\). Let \(r(n)\) be the number of different configurations of \(n\) points with \(f(n)\) different distances. It is \(r(3)=1\), \(r(4)=6\) and \(r(5)=1\). In this paper are constructed all different configurations (up to similarity) of six points with three distinct distances \(f(6)=3)\). A main result is \(r(6)=9\). Of interest, too, are a lot of lemmas and the characterization of certain properties and configurations. From this investigation is deduced \(f(8)= f(9)=4\) and \(r(7)=2\).