Periodic Orbits for Billiards on an Equilateral Triangle

DOI10.1080/00029890.2008.11920555zbMATH Open1172.37017arXivmath/0509292OpenAlexW1679321871WikidataQ58122381 ScholiaQ58122381MaRDI QIDQ3606576FDOQ3606576

Authors: Andrew M. Baxter, Ronald N. Umble 

Publication date: 26 February 2009

Published in: The American Mathematical Monthly (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We give a complete solution of the following problem: Find, classify and count the (classes of) periodic orbits on an equilateral triangle. We prove that Fagnano's period 3 orbit is the only periodic orbit with odd period. A periodic orbit is either prime or some d-fold iterate thereof. We count prime and iterate periodic orbits of period $2n$ via a bijection with a certain partition of $n$, then count only prime orbits using the prime factorization of $n$.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0509292

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zbMATH Keywords

periodic orbittrajectoryunfoldingFagnano orbitbilliards on equilateral triangle

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Fixed points and periodic points of dynamical systems; fixed-point index theory; local dynamics (37C25)

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