DailyDirt: Is It Really That Hard To Cut A Cake?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Life is filled with small problems. Some more important than others. Mathematicians have attempted to solve some of these conundrums, and apparently one somewhat popular task is cutting things up. Here are just a few (useful?) examples of math applied to the task of cutting a cake.

• This video demonstrates how to cut a cake in a way that maximizes the amount of moist cake that can be eaten if the cake isn't eaten in a single sitting, but over the course of days. This is actually a pretty sad way to eat a cake, assuming you have no friends or don't want to share your cake so that you have to eat it all by yourself. [url]
• If you've ever heard of the Banach-Tarski Paradox, you might think it should be possible to cut up a cake in such a way that you never run out of cake. The proof relies on the Axiom of Choice, but too bad real cake isn't infinitely divisible. [url]
• Everyone knows the classic "you cut, I choose" method for cutting up a cake fairly between two people. Not everyone knows the method for cutting a cake fairly between n number of people.... [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: axiom of choice, banach-tarski paradox, cake, distribution problems, fairness, food, math, proofs