Fun little problem a saw on Twitter tonight

The Wolfram Alpha Can’t Twitter account is pretty funny. They pose clever (and not really serious) problems that Wolfram Alpha can’t answer correctly. Definitely worth reading through their feed for a laugh. My personal favorite:

time since the domestication of the dog in dog years

— Wolfram|Alpha Can't (@wacnt) January 10, 2015

The question they posted tonight was surprisingly fun to think through:

total distance a light ray travels from (-1/4, -3/4) to (3/2, 1), bouncing off a mirror shaped as y = x^2

— Wolfram|Alpha Can't (@wacnt) April 12, 2015

This one is obviously a bit out of reach for my kids, but it would be a great challenge problem for a calculus class.