h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

wOw this is absolutely amaaaaazing! Extremely well-written, very intelligent yet easy to understand, and also very funny.

one thing... it seems that an awful lot of spit is going to wind up on the cake with all that shouting which may cause anybody realizing that to bow out of the proceedings, thus changing the game plan.

actually, two things... this cake is square, right? If that is so... some of us prefer more icing than others do... i would want an edge piece... so.. is this problem just about size?

no, make that three things... and have these math guys tried to figure out a way to divide a round cake?

Well, thank you, Fluffy!

Yes, the spit, hmmm. Maybe surgeon-style face masks would help?

In fact the cake can be any size, as we're not dividing it geometrically. You just shout 'Cut!' when the slice is large enough by your judgement. I agree it's straightforward for a square or rectangular cake. For a circular one, then you could still cut it in the same way, but the judgement becomes more difficult. Maybe it would be easier cutting it radially, ie cut a radius to start and then rotate the knife around the centre until the segment is large enough (approximately 120 degrees for 3 people)

If you put a higher premium on an edge piece or part of the uneven topping ("I want the cherry!") then you might be prepared to accept a smaller piece of cake to get it, but you will always have the opportunity to do so by these methods.

Icy

I read it right to the end! I like! I do think perhaps a paragraph helping round cake-eaters to convert the methods to their type of cake (and ways to make sure the initial cut starts in the actual middle of the cake! That's always tricky!) could be useful, just to make it complete

Thanks Robyn

I'll have a think about whether to mention round cakes, as you're the second person to raise it (see Fluffy's thread attached to the article itself). The short answer is that it doesn't matter what shape the cake is, but that your judgement has to consider the shape when assessing the size of a slice.

What do you mean by the initial cut in the middle of the cake? Did you mean radial cuts on a round cake?

Oh, I'm sorry, we're already in that thread aren't we!

What I meant was that all important first point of entry when making a radial cut on a round cake (or, for trickines... an oval!)... If it's not right in the middle you add all kinds of length:width of slice issues to an already fraught situation...

Yes, I think we were talking about the same thing.

Oval cakes? Now that's tricky. It's a bit like oval planetary orbits, I suppose. If you cut the cake to one of the foci (mathematical term there), then you cut slices of the same distance that a planet would take if travelling around the sun in a set period of time, then you would have pieces of equal area. All you need to know are Kepler's Laws.

'all' I need to know???!