The Beckman-Quarles theorem via the triangle inequality (Q2238258)

The classical theorem of \textit{F. S. Beckman} and \textit{D. A. Quarles jun.} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 4, 810--815 (1953; Zbl 0052.18204)] affirms that for \(n\geq2\) every map \(\phi:\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow\mathbb{R}^n\), denoted by \(A\mapsto A'\), which maps every pair of points of distance \(1\) to a similar pair is an isometry. This paper provides a proof of this theorem. Let \(F\) be the set of all reals \(r>0\) such that \(\phi\) maps every pair of points of distance \(r\) to a similar pair. The proof proceeds by showing that \(F=\mathbb{R}^+\) in several steps. Some ingredients of the proof are as follow: (1) An observation that if \(r_1,r_2,\ldots,r_m\in F\) and \(d(P,Q)\leq r_1+r_2+\cdots+r_m\) then \(d(P',Q')\leq r_1+r_2+\cdots+r_m\). (2) If \(\alpha\) is two times the height of the unit \(n\)-dimensional regular simplex (an \(n\)-dimensional generalization of the regular tetrahedron of sides \(1\)) then \(\alpha\in F\). More generally, if \(r\in F\) then \(r\alpha\in F\). In particular, \(1,\alpha,\alpha^2,\ldots,\) all belong to \(F\). (3) The observation that \(1<\alpha<2\), indeed \(\alpha=\sqrt{2(n+1)/n}\). (4) A key observation that the set of fractional parts \(\{m\alpha^n\}\) (for positive integers \(m, n\)) is, in some sense, dense (regardless of whether \(\alpha\) is irrational or not).