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The Perfect Way To Slice a Pizza

Posted by samzenpus on from the equal-distribution-of-the-pie dept.

iamapizza writes "New Scientist reports on the quest of two math boffins for the perfect way to slice a pizza. It's an interesting and in-depth article; 'The problem that bothered them was this. Suppose the harried waiter cuts the pizza off-center, but with all the edge-to-edge cuts crossing at a single point, and with the same angle between adjacent cuts. The off-center cuts mean the slices will not all be the same size, so if two people take turns to take neighboring slices, will they get equal shares by the time they have gone right round the pizza — and if not, who will get more?' This is useful, of course, if you're familiar with the concept of 'sharing' a pizza."

6 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Unsure. by Hillview · · Score: 5, Funny

    My biggest pizza cutting dilemma happened just the other day. I wasn't sure I could eat six pieces, so I cut it into four.

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    1. Re:Unsure. by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 5, Funny

      A standard pizza is usually cut in 8 pieces. Who cuts it into 6?

      It was a Metric pizza

    2. Re:Unsure. by crazypip666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      A metric pizza should have ten slices.

    3. Re:Unsure. by CecilPL · · Score: 5, Funny

      This thread is going nowhere.

    4. Re:Unsure. by Vainglorious+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      A metric pizza would have a circumference of 1 meter

      More likely metric would follow the pattern of paper sizing, so an A0 pizza would have an area of 1 square meter (for a diameter of ~ 113cm), an A1 pizza would be 0.5 square meters (diameter 80cm), A2 would have half that area and so on. A typical pizza would be A4 : an area of one sixteenth of a square meter, so a diameter of close to 30 cm.

      Then there's the B series, which works in the same way, but starting from B0 having an area of 0.5 square meters, and with the inclusion of anchovys.

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  2. 4 whole pieces? by NoPantsJim · · Score: 5, Funny

    I prefer to roll mine into a giant tube, thus consuming only one piece.

    Also, when people ask what I had for breakfast, I can respond with "A wrap"

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