Question

Three figures (X), (Y) and (Z) show a sequence of folding of a piece of paper. The shaded portion of figure (Z) shows the manner in which the folded paper has been cut. Select the option which would most closely resemble the unfolded form of figure (Z).

• A. Option 1
• B. Option 2
• C. Option 3
• D. Option 4

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Concept:

• In a fold-and-cut question, unfolding the paper reverses the folds one at a time, in the reverse order they were made.
• Every fold line works like a mirror line: a cut made through the folded layers reappears as a mirror-reflected copy across that line once the paper is opened.
• Two folds made along two different (perpendicular) lines mean the cut must reappear as four mirror-matched copies, one in each quarter of the original sheet.

Step 1: Trace the folds shown from (X) to (Y) to (Z).
(X) is folded along its vertical centre line to give (Y).
(Y) is folded again along its horizontal centre line to give (Z).
So (Z) is effectively one-quarter of the original sheet, made up of four layers pressed together.

Step 2: Note the cut made on (Z).
A small filled square and a small filled dot are cut near one corner of the folded packet, through all four layers at once.

Step 3: Unfold the paper back, one fold at a time.
Unfolding the horizontal fold reflects the cut across that line, giving two mirrored copies in (Y)'s shape.
Unfolding the vertical fold then reflects that whole pair across the vertical line, giving four mirrored copies in total, one sitting in each quadrant of the full square, each the same distance from both centre lines as the original cut.

Step 4: Match this against the options.
Only the option with a small square at each of the four corners and the dots placed symmetrically about both the vertical and the horizontal centre lines reproduces this double-mirror pattern correctly.
The option showing the shapes repeated only along a single diagonal is wrong, since that layout would come from just one fold, not two perpendicular folds.

Final Answer: The option with squares at all four corners and dots symmetrically placed about both centre lines (option 2)