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Beloch Fold


A Beloch fold is an origami fold that simultaneously maps two given points p_1 and p_2 onto two given lines l_1 and l_2, respectively. It is the sixth of Huzita's origami axioms. For each point-line pair, a crease that performs the required reflection is a tangent line to the parabola having the point as its focus and the line as its directrix. A Beloch fold is therefore a common tangent line of two such parabolas (Hull 2011).

Two parabolas can have up to three common tangents. Beloch (1936) used this operation to construct roots of general cubic equations, thereby giving origami constructions for angle trisection and cube duplication (Hull 2011).

PlasticConstantBelochFold

For example, a Beloch fold gives a geometric construction of the plastic constant P (Pegg 2025). On a coordinate sheet containing the unit equilateral triangle with base endpoints B=(0,0) and O=(0,1) and apex V=(sqrt(3)/2,1/2), simultaneously fold A=(-2,0) onto the y-axis and C=(-1,2) onto the x-axis. For a crease y=mx+b, the two reflection conditions give b=m-m^(-1) and b=m+1-m^2, so m^3-m-1=0. The unique real root is therefore m=P, and the crease is

 y=Px+P^(-2).

It intersects the triangle's base at S=(0,P^(-2)), giving BS=P^(-2), SO=P^(-3), and BS/SO=P. In addition, the distance from S to V is VS=P^(-1/2). The reflected points are (0,-2P^(-1)) and (2P-1,0), respectively.


See also

Angle Trisection, Cube Duplication, Cubic Equation, Geometric Construction, Origami, Parabola, Plastic Constant

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References

Beloch, M. P. "Sul metodo del ripiegamento della carta per la risoluzione dei problemi geometrici." Periodico di Matematiche, ser. 4, 16, 104-108, 1936.Hull, T. C. "Solving Cubics with Creases: The Work of Beloch and Lill." Amer. Math. Monthly 118, 307-315, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4169/amer.math.monthly.118.04.307. Pegg, E. Jr. "BelochFold." Wolfram Function Repository. May 12, 2025. https://resources.wolframcloud.com/FunctionRepository/resources/BelochFold/.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Beloch Fold." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/BelochFold.html

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