Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexander Givental
to see all 8 images, it suffices in the photo sent by Roger imagine that the table surface on which the candle is standing is reflective. Then you'll see the up-side-down image of the candle below the actual one, and the whole picture of this pair will be reflected 3 times in the mirrors.
|
Alexander, as intriguing as the poem and its translation(s) are, I feel they were a red herring in this puzzle (encouraging us to think of it as a word problem and based on multiples of two rather than three), but never mind that. I’m more interested in the solution. If I had a corner mirror to consult, this would all be crystal clear to me, but I don’t and it isn’t, so please treat me like a third-grader. Let’s talk about how many reflections there are (asking how many iPhones was another red herring). After some mental effort, I can visualize six reflections: two perpendicular mirrors produce three, and a third reflects those three (3 + 3 = 6).
Or (and this is already twisting my brain out of shape) three mirrors can be paired in three ways, each producing three reflections, from which we subtract three shared images (3 + 3 + 3 – 3 = 6). So where does the seventh come from? Is it, as Matt suggests, in the center, with six reflections around it? If it’s simply an “up-side-down image below the actual one,” why does it appear only in the floor (or ceiling) mirror?