Map folding

In the mathematics of paper folding, map folding and stamp folding are two problems of counting the number of ways that a piece of paper can be folded. In the stamp folding problem, the paper is a strip of stamps with creases between them, and the folds must lie on the creases. In the map folding problem, the paper is a map, divided by creases into rectangles, and the folds must again lie only along these creases.

Lucas (1891) credits the invention of the stamp folding problem to Émile Lemoine.[1] Touchard (1950) provides several other early references.[2]

  1. ^ Lucas, Édouard (1891), Théorie des nombres (in French), vol. I, Paris: Gauthier-Villars, p. 120.
  2. ^ Touchard, Jacques (1950), "Contribution à l'étude du problème des timbres poste", Canadian Journal of Mathematics (in French), 2: 385–398, doi:10.4153/CJM-1950-035-6, MR 0037815, S2CID 124708270.