Consider the rectangle ((0,0),(2,1))
What is the most creative way of dividing its area in half?
- e.g. by any combination of straight lines, triangles, curves, fractal curves (e.g. Cantor dust), star, ellipse with non-integer exponents, two concentric nautiluses, cyclic curve, other plane curve...
- doesn't have to be just two subshapes, you can use more
- e.g. you could figure out what position and angle another rectangle of equal area overlapping it at some angle would have to be to to cover half its area
- prize is for the most creative!
- also good if you can give coordinates or equations
For inspiration:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/PlaneCurves.html
(If you think this is easy, the follow-up would be "n different distinct methods of marking out collections of subshapes, each having total relative net area 1/n")
2007-07-20
21:24:08
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6 answers
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asked by
smci
7
in
Science & Mathematics
➔ Mathematics
I meant "creative yet fully deterministic".
So your method must have an underlying formula - you don't have to explicitly state the formula but describe it in enough detail that it could be computed.
2007-07-20
21:46:31 ·
update #1
People, raise your game!
** The answer has to involve some deterministic formula, and I want you to explain to to derive it. **
I only got one semi-proper answer from Helmut, but those don't have deterministic formulae that can be calculated.
Here is one clever example from Wikipedia where the RHS is an infinite sum of alternately rectangles then squares, with area 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ... which converges to 1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Geometric_progression_convergence_diagram.svg
Now can you do better?!?
2007-07-21
00:07:59 ·
update #2