I have seen a [picture like this] several times:
featuring a "troll proof" that π=4. Obviously the construction does not yield a circle, starting from a square, but how to rigorously and demonstratively prove it?
For reference, we start with a circle inscribed in a square with side length 1. A step consists of reflecting each corner of figure Fi so that it lies precisely on the circle and yielding figure Fi+1. F0 is the square with side length 1. After infinitely many steps we have a figure F∞. Prove that it isn't a circle.
Possible ways of thinking:
- Since the perimeter of figure Fi indeed does not change during a step, it is invariant. Since it does not equal the perimeter of the circle, π≠4, it cannot be a circle.
While it seems to work, I do not find this proof demonstrative enough - it does not show why F∞ which looks very much like a circle to us, is not one.
- Consider one corner of the square F0. Let t be a coordinate along the edge of this corner, 0≤t≤1 and t=0,t=1 being the points of tangency for this corner of F0 and the circle.
By construction, all points t∈A={n2m|(n,m∈N)&(n<2m)} of F∞ lie on the circle. I think it can be shown that the rest of the points, ˉA=[0;1]∖A, lie in an ε-neighbourhood U of the circle. I also think that in the limit ε→0, points t∈ˉA also lie on the circle. Am I wrong in thinking this? Can we get a contradiction from this line of thought?
Any other elucidating proofs and thoughts are also welcomed, of course.
Answer
You have rigorously defined Fi, but how do you define F∞? You cannot say: "after infinitely many steps...".
In this case you could define F∞=⋂iFi (i.e. the intersection of all Fi), since Fi is a decreasing sequence this is a good notion of limit. Notice however that F∞ is a circle! But this does not mean that the perimeter of Fi should converge to the perimeter of F∞.
You could also choose a metric on subsets of the plane to define some sort of convergence Fi→F∞ as i→∞. In any case, if you choose any good metric you find that either F∞ is the circle or that the sequence does not converge.
The point here is that the perimeter is not continuous with respect to the convergence of sets... so even if Fi→F∞ (in any decent notion of convergence) you cannot say that P(Fi)→P(F∞) (where P is the perimeter).
No comments:
Post a Comment