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An elementary geometric proof of Snell’s law from Fermat’s principle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2025

Nicholas Fowkes
Nicholas Fowkes*
Affiliation:
Eton College, Windsor, SL4 6DW e-mail: [email protected]
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Extract

In the long history of the study of the refraction of light, Willebrord Snell is credited with being the first to show that the ratio of the sines of the angles of incidence and reflection is constant for any given pair of media.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 109 , Issue 574 , March 2025 , pp. 27 - 33
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Copyright
© The Authors, 2025 Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mathematical Association

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References

Pedoe, D., A Geometric Proof of the equivalence of Fermat’s Principle and Snell’s Law, The American Mathematical Monthly, 71(5) (May, 1964) pp. 543–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niven, I. M., Maxima and minima without calculus, Mathematical Association of America, (1981), pp.195–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar