The question consists of a set of three figures X, Y and Z showing a sequence of folding of a piece of paper. Figure Z shows the manner in which the folded paper has been cut. Choose a figure which would most closely resemble the unfolded form of figure Z. Problem Figures: Answer Figures:

Correct — D.
Rule: open the folds in reverse order, and each crease mirrors the cut across itself.

X: the top half folds down onto the bottom half.
Y: the left half of that strip folds onto the right half.
Z: a shallow notch with slanted ends is cut along the top edge of the remaining quarter, which is the first crease.

Open Y: the notch mirrors across the vertical crease and runs the full width of the centre line.
Open X: that strip mirrors across the horizontal crease.

Result: two pointed hexagons along the centre line, meeting at the centre — answer figure B → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  A — Figure A puts notches along both centre lines, arranged like a pinwheel. The cut in Z runs along the horizontal crease only, and mirroring across creases gives a mirror pattern, not a pinwheel.
• (b)
  C — Figure C adds an arm running up the vertical centre line to the top edge. Nothing in Z cuts along the vertical crease, and an arm above the centre with none below breaks the mirror across the first fold.
• (c)
  D — Figure D cuts into the top and bottom edges and sets its centre notches above the line on one side, below it on the other. Z's cut lies on the horizontal crease, and unfolding mirrors it exactly.

Paper-cutting items run the folds backwards. Each crease is a mirror: open the last fold first, reflect every cut across that crease, then open the next.

A cut made on a crease opens into a shape that straddles it.

Here the notch sits on the horizontal crease of the folded quarter, so after both openings it becomes a pair of shapes lying across the centre line, one each side of the vertical crease, meeting where the creases cross.

Key facts

• Unfold in reverse order: the last fold opens first.
• Every crease is a mirror line for the cuts.
• A notch cut on a crease opens into a shape mirrored on both sides of that crease.

Common traps

• Mirroring across one crease and stopping at a half-pattern
• Answering by position: figure B is option (d), not option (b)

No directly related past PYQ was found.