Constructing an angle’s trisectors

I really enjoyed this video about how to trisect angles. Trisection of arbitrary angles is impossible using only a straightedge and compass; however, it is possible by carefully folding a piece of paper.

For further reading:

Click to access amer.math.monthly.118.04.307-hull.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huzita%E2%80%93Hatori_axioms

2 thoughts on “Constructing an angle’s trisectors

  1. I remember running across an angle trisection with compass, straightedge, and two marks in Courant and Robbins’s What Is Mathematics and feeling like I’d been let in on a deep secret of the universe.

  2. Galois Theory by Ian Stewart gives a brilliant breakdown of why this problem is impossible with straight edge and compass, as well as other famous problems such as squaring the circle.

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