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Folded Sheet of Paper: Problem

The document presents a mathematical problem involving a rectangular sheet of paper folded such that two opposite corners meet, with the crease length equal to the longer side. It derives the relationship between the longer side (b) and the shorter side (a) using geometric principles and the Pythagorean theorem. The final result shows that the ratio of the longer side to the shorter side is b = a(1 + √5)/2.

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181 views3 pages

Folded Sheet of Paper: Problem

The document presents a mathematical problem involving a rectangular sheet of paper folded such that two opposite corners meet, with the crease length equal to the longer side. It derives the relationship between the longer side (b) and the shorter side (a) using geometric principles and the Pythagorean theorem. The final result shows that the ratio of the longer side to the shorter side is b = a(1 + √5)/2.

Uploaded by

TNBHARDWAJ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Folded Sheet of Paper

Sunaina Pai

Problem
A rectangular sheet of paper is folded so that two diagonally opposite corners come together.
If the crease formed is the same length as the longer side of the sheet, what is the ratio of the
longer side of the sheet to the shorter side?
Source: http://www.qbyte.org/puzzles/puzzle01.html#p1

Solution
Let us represent the sheet of paper as a rectangle ABCD where AB > BC. Let us represent
the crease with the line segment EF such that the crease EF meets AB and DC at E and F ,
respectively. Let H be a point on DC such that EH ⊥ DC.

A E B

p
a
b

D F H C
p
b

Let us define some of the line segments with single letter variables:

AB = DC = b,
AD = BC = a,
AF = F C = p.

Note that when the sheet is folded to meet at corners A and C, F C coincides with AF . This
justifies AF = F C.

1
Since the length of the crease is same as longer side, we get

EF = b.

We compute DF as
DF = b − p. (1)

By applying Pythagorean theorem to the right-angled 4ADF , we get

AF 2 = AD2 + DF 2 =⇒ p2 = a2 + (b − p)2
⇐⇒ p2 = a2 + b2 + p2 − 2bp
a2 + b2
⇐⇒ p = .
2b

If we turn the rectangle upside down, the problem remains the same, i.e. EB appears in the
modified problem where DF is in the original problem. Therefore by symmetry and (1),

DF = EB = HC = b − p.

Now we compute F H as

F H = DC − DF − HC
= b − 2(b − p)
= b − 2b + 2p
= 2p − b

2 a 2 + b2
= −b
2b
a 2 + b2
= −b
b
a 2 + b2 − b2
=
b
a2
= .
b

By applying Pythagorean theorem to the right-angled 4EF H we get


2
a2

2 2 2 2
EH + F H = EF =⇒ a + = b2
b
⇐⇒ b4 − a2 b2 − a4 = 0. (2)

b 2

Let a = x. Then b2 = a2 x. Substituting this in (2) we get

b4 − a2 b2 − a4 = 0 ⇐⇒ a4 x2 − a4 x − a4 = 0
⇐⇒ a4 (x2 − x − 1) = 0.

2
Since a 6= 0, we have x2 − x − 1 = 0. Therefore
√ √
1± 1+4 1± 5
x= = .
2 2
Since x > 0, we ignore the negative result for x and we get
√  2 √
1+ 5 b 1+ 5
x= ⇐⇒ =
2 a 2
s √
b 1+ 5
⇐⇒ = .
a 2

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