{"id":796,"date":"2014-08-25T16:42:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T16:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pastrysampler.com\/blog\/scientifically-and-mathematically-speaking-whats-the-best-way-to-cut-a-cake\/"},"modified":"2018-05-22T03:59:04","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T03:59:04","slug":"scientifically-and-mathematically-speaking-whats-the-best-way-to-cut-a-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pastrysampler.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/scientifically-and-mathematically-speaking-whats-the-best-way-to-cut-a-cake.html","title":{"rendered":"Scientifically and Mathematically Speaking – What’s the Best Way to Cut a Cake?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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Is there a perfect way to cut a cake? I explore.
Image courtesy jeremyfoo, Flickr via CC license.<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We all know how to cut a cake, right? Even Wilton gives diagrams on how to cut a cake in every conceivable shape<\/a> there is, including the most common round shape (below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Cake Cutting Diagram for Round Cakes – via Wilton.<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

But, is there a best way to cut a cake, for example to so that everyone has the ‘best’ piece or that each slice is fresh, not ‘dry’? For these questions, leave it to mathematicians to come up with these answers.<\/p>\n

Cutting a Cake to Prevent Dry Surfaces<\/h3>\n

First, we look to Sir Francis Galton. A few years before he was knighted he had his humorous answer for the dilemma of cutting a cake in a way “so as to leave a minimum of exposed surface to become dry” in Nature<\/i>, 1906. He wanted the best way to take a small cake for two and have it ‘fresh’ for 3 days, meaning no dry exposed areas. Each day, a third of the cake was removed and served to two people. I posted Galton’s Cutting a Round Cake on Scientific Principles<\/i><\/a> on Old School Pastry for you to read.<\/p>\n

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Today, we use plastic wrap. Galton’ answer in 1906:<\/p>\n