Olympiad Maths Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Iran

We have a rectangle with its sides being a mirror. A light ray enters from one of the corners of the rectangle and after being reflected several times, gets to the opposite corner of its starting point. Prove that the light ray has passed the center (Intersection of diagonals) of the rectangle.

Solution

First note that if the line ll has slope aa, then the reflection of ll with respect to any line which is parallel to one of the axes has the slope a-a.

Now assume that at the start the ray has slope aa. Then the ray always has the slope ±a\pm a. Now at the starting point a line with slope a-a lies outside the rectangle so by symmetry at the opposite corner the line with slope a-a lies outside the rectangle. Hence the ray reaches the opposite corner with slope aa.

Now assume that a light ray enters the rectangle from the opposite corner. By symmetry these two rays meet at the time t2\frac{t}{2} in the center of the rectangle.

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