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jmc

geometry senior

Problem

Square has side length unit. Points and are on sides and , respectively, with . When the square is folded along the lines and , sides and coincide and lie on diagonal . The length of segment can be expressed in the form units. What is the integer value of ?
Solution
We start by drawing a diagram. When the paper is folded, sides and coincide on the longer dashed line, and points and meet at , as you can see below. Now, we assign variables. We are looking for the length of , so let . Then, . Because of the symmetry of the square and the fold, everything to the left of line is a mirror image of everything to the right of . Thus, is an isosceles right triangle (45-45-90), so . Also, and are congruent 45-45-90 triangles, so .

Also, notice that because the way the paper is folded (its original position versus its final position), we have more congruent triangles, . This means that .

Lastly, notice that since is on , we have . is a diagonal of the square, so it has side length , , and . Thus, our equation becomes Multiplying both sides by yields ; solving for yields . Thus, , and we see that .
Final answer
3