Math

Here’s why mathematicians are so interested in cake cutting

The problem attracts game theorists, computer scientists, economists and more

Cartoon illustration shows five people sitting around a table with a cake that has been cut in the middle with a knife and additional plates with cake on them in the foreground. Everyone has different sized cake slices on their plates. Only one person looks happy.

The cake serves as a metaphor for anything that can be divided, like land, time or limited resources.

MADELINE MCMAHON

By Stephen Ornes

- More than 2 years ago

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

Ariel Procaccia has thought a lot about how to cut cake over the last 15 years.