Face in the Mirror
posted by Rajesh Lal at
9:32 AM
Monday, January 14, 2008
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55 Comments:
Three! Since they are all at right angles to each other, none of them would reflect the images from the other mirrors.
ASSUMPTION I: The mirrors lie flat on their respective surfaces.
ASSUMPTION II: The room is box-like, with no non-right angles.
Okay, so there are three mirrors: North, East, and Up.
Say I'm facing the North Mirror, I'll see one for that. 1. When I look to the right, I'll see the same on the East. 2. Where the two mirrors converge there will be a reflection of each reflection of me, creating another single figure - bisected by a line along the NE vertex - that is actually more of a "rotated" version of me than a reflection (my "Bikini Inspector" T-Shirt would be written in the correct direction). 3.
Now, all this nonsense is reflected on the Up mirror. 6. With an additional "first generation" reflection directly above me, looking down on me from his anti-gravity world. 7.
Therefore, were I to look up at the NEU corner, I would see 7 images of myself in my peripheral vision: 4 "flipped," 3 "rotated."
you would see God
Depending on where in the room you stand, you might see zero reflections or an almost infinite number of reflections.
I AGREE WITH 47
3 IS ALL U WOULD SEE
AT RIGHT ANGLES (90)
LIGHT DOES NOT BEND EXCEPT IN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES
You would see 5 in total.
With the mirrors on the North, East and Ceiling it would break down like this:
North wall; 1
East wall; 1
Ceiling; 1
North wall and Ceiling; 1
East wall and Ceiling; 1
North wall and East wall; 0
The reason for this is because we are asked about the images that we see, not the number of reflections.
When you look at two mirrors at right angles you see only a single image, but the reason that I say it is zero is it is a continuation of the image in either mirror.
patrick a ur thinking is just but if so then ur answer will be 3 because images N/C and E/C would also not be reflections as u explained, if not for patrick then ill have to say like the others 7 because u will see the obviouse 6 then an image of N/E in the ceiling
Whoever said that you were sitting?
Sam Raven 2 brings up a good point: the question clearly states that you're sitting in the room, but afterward no one mentioned sitting in their responses.
As your stance obviously changes angles and the behavior of light, it could be anything from 1 to 100,000,000 images.
(I'm j/k, Sam. You're a good kid. We love your work)
It never says there is a light source in the room, so the trick answer is zero!
Assuming there is a diffuse light source, I'm going to go with 12 images.
I believe that the mirrors being at right angles does not prevent seeing the "2nd generation" images. To claim otherwise would imply that when looking at one mirror, you would not be able to see the reflection of any part of the other mirrors. Remember that the photons are bouncing off the walls at all possible angles, so it is possible for a set of photons bouncing off you will hit two (or three) mirrors before entering your eye.
More concretely, I've been in an elevator with mirrored walls, and when I looked at a corner, I could definitly see 4 images, the two "1st generation" images plus the two images in the image of the other mirror.
Conceptually add in a mirrored ceiling. Now you can see an upside-down version of what you had (+4 images) plus the images in the ceiling mirror and in the 3 images of the ceiling mirror. So that's a total of 12 images.
Upon further 'reflection', I think GaryP is right. Because of the right angles, certain images would converge. In my elevator, I only did see 3 images, since the setup effectively created 3 versions of the elevator (in addition to the original).
The answer should be 7 images.
One. I would see one image of "one self"
yeah i agree with the guy above me, no matter where the mirrors are you can only see one image of yourself at onetime
If there was no light source then you would see none because of how dark it is. But all of you are very incredible thinkers so I have to go with 3. It makes sence.
Unless of course the mirrors are on different walls, and they are not directly across from each other, which all mirrors are, you would see infinite going the direction that the opposite mirrored is placed, i know confusing
sorry when i said different the first time i meant opposite, and also after which all mirrors are i meant because nothing is perfect
None, I would probably be standing in the corner not sitting
i agree with what patrick said but...
you see six of yourself because u can see suorslef in the mirror and you can see yourself in reality, such as your hand
One, your own.
The answer is NONE. You don't see any image(s).
Because there is no one sitting in the room for you to 'see'.
The question Clearly States how many images "you" would see. As I read this it becomes apparent this problem is talking about me. In light of this realization, I will put an end to the arguments and gouge out my eyes so the answer would be ZERO.
I will also cut myself in two at the waist so there is no way I could "sit" therefore making the question invalid and the writer of the question extremely insensitive. I am very sensitive about not being able to see my severed half.
OMG it is infinity because the mirrors will reflect upon each other and you and if there was say 6 inthe room, you would see 12 mirrors on the first reflection then 24 then 48 then 72 and so on. The mirrors reflect on each other, creating a infinite amount of reflections.
Of course this is possible with at least a little space between the mirrors. I am right and wrong. Learned this from watching a barber shop mirrior
3 one on each side one on top
either 3 or infinte.... :-??
I'm sorry I was not able to comment before JediToni because he is absolutely correct about being able to see reflections of mirrors at right angles. If you doubt it, get two mirrors. However JediToni was very close but not quite right. It helps if you draw this one out. Each wall has it's 1st image from you, it's 2nd image from the other wall and ceiling. That gives you six images in just the walls. The ceiling is a little trickier. You have the reflection of both walls on the ceiling for 6 more which give you 12 images. Where JediToni went wrong is you also have one more reflection of you on the ceiling right above you giving you 13. The difference in the amount of reflections on the ceiling has to due with how you are oriented with ceiling compared to the other walls.
Would love some comments on this one.
Thank You
The number of reflections one sees of one's self in equal to the number of mirrors. Any other images would be reflections of reflections of one's self.
In this scenario, there would be only three reflections of one's self.
do the answers ever get posted?
you seem to be missing the point - or the vital word - that is. not three mirrors, but if adjacent - meaning walls facing each other - and roof of a rectangular room were LINED with mirrors, how many images of one self would you see sitting in that room.
since i don't plan on sitting in that particular room i have the correct answer (for me anyway) zero.
oh - and not reflections - but images - picky me!
oops - did that sound rude at all? wasn't meant to. love some of the answers people have put up.
yes elm, a week after the question is posted as per the faqs
u will only see one reflection at a time.
it depends if u are sitting or not... if u are sitting i would say 3... if u were not sitting 0
infinenet
the adjacent mirrors would reflect off each other millions of times.
Adjacent does not mean across from, it means next to or sharing one vertex or side. You would not have an infinite number of reflectioins. read my post carefully from above.
there is only one me so i would see only one.
sad..
there are dumb people who don't know the meaning of adjacent..
one of the labels of this question is "logic" not "math" I don't know if you're supposed to use angles to solve this one.
but one can argue that the question is too vague. you could be facing the opposite direction of the mirrors.
But assuming that the question is not stupid... My answer would be 4, assuming that you can't see the ceiling at the same time that you're looking at the walls (which would be silly).
Imagine, say using Gary's example, North and East.
North you have 1 image, East you have another image.
But in the North mirror, there is a reflection of the East mirror which means you see another one of yourself. there would be no north reflection in this east reflection because of the angle you'd be sitting at.
The same would be true if you were to look at the east mirror. AKA, another two images.
Now assuming that you can look at both mirrors at the same time with relative ease using perhipheral vision, you would see 4 images. I don't agree with Gary's interpretation of another reflection along the NE axis because there can not be two real images of one object on the same plane if there is only one light source.
Anyway, if you include the "UP source" the up would include the real image, then two imaginary images, one reflected from each the North and the East mirror.
So depending on how many eyes you have... <_< you'd see either 4 or 7. Which ironically is concurrent with Gary's answer, but for different reasons.
You would see only 3 images , 1 on each mirror.
Zero. It doesn't say you're sitting in the room. So, you wouldn't see yourself sitting in the room.
3 on top, 2 at left, 2 at right
Total = 7 images.
Correction: It would be 3 images on each mirror, hence giving a total of 9 images.
Correction: It would be 3 images on each mirror, hence giving a total of 9 images.
there would be 9 images of yourself
there would be 9 images of yourself
3 images
the adjacent mirrors are not being looked at. same with the ceiling. he is looking foward and there is no mirror in front. so the answer is ZERO.
infinty of images
I agree with Jonathan. 13
Okay, think of the room as a dice, the floor is 1, north is 2, east is 3, south is 4, west is 5, and the ceiling is 6.
The problem says that the mirrors are on adjacent walls, and the ceiling, so for this example, we're gonna put them on sides 4(south),5(west),and 6(ceiling).
now, leaving out possible lack of light, restriction of vision, disqualification of incomplete images, or not actually sitting in the room, the number of images would be 13.
3 images would bounce off of only 1 mirror each:
~4
~5
~6
6 images would bounce off of 2 mirrors:
~4-5
~5-4
~4-6
~6-4
~5-6
~6-5
and 4 images would bounce off of 3 mirrors:
~4-5-6
~5-4-6
~6-5-4
~6-4-5
it's impossible, with right angles, to have any image bounce off of any mirror twice, so 3 is the most any image could be reflected. The final answer is 13 images.
Don't be silly, 1st u can only see 1 reflection cos if u look up theres one and if u look forward u can only see one cos u are blocking ur reflection from reflecting 2 the opposite mirror so u can only see the one right infront of u. case closed the answer is 1.
i get the answer 8. do ever find out if we are right or not?
look at the last two words.
THAT ROOM
what you see in the mirror is not THAT ROOM, it's a reflection of THAT ROOM. Thus the answer is 0
answer?? please??
can we get an answer??
ANSWER 7
---------------------
3 direct reflection
2 side ways reflection
2 top sideways reflection
GOT RIGHT
---------------------
garyp, mind slayer, JediTony, ben
Depends on where you are sitting
if you are in the corner you would see an infinite number, but if you were sitting in the centre, then you would only see 3
The Answer is ....NONE.
No one has mentioned any lights in the room, you only assumed there was a light on and to assume makes an ASS of U and ME.
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