Math Is Fun Forum

paulthompson

Member

Registered: 2007-04-02

Posts: 1

why does toast cut diagnally taste better (maths pros only)

Isn't the crust to bread ratio better both on diagnolly cut toast and circular toast?

this is exactly why it tastes better. lets break it down royal institute christmas lecture style. imagine the toast is a rectangle with:

width of toast = x
height of toast = y

length of crust portion of perimeter = c
length of bread portion of perimeter = b

bread to crust ratio = b/c = z

we'll ignore the thickness of the slice for the purposes of this, and assume that, when cut lengthways, the bread is always cut along the x axis.

----------------------
toast cut 'lengthways'
----------------------

c = 2(x+y)
b = 2x

z = x/(x+y)

--------------------
toast cut diagonally
--------------------

c = 2(x+y)
b = 2(x^2+y^2)^0.5

z = (2(x^2+y^2)^0.5)/(2(x+y))
= ((x^2+y^2)^0.5)/(x+y)

The z axes on the above representations are on different scales so it looks a little off. The difference between the ratios is always positive, for positive, non-zero values of x and y:

Is this correct??

paulthompson

Member

Registered: 2007-04-02

Posts: 1

Re: why does toast cut diagnally taste better (maths pros only)

Are there no experts here?

U7109

Real Member

Registered: 2007-03-19

Posts: 485

Re: why does toast cut diagnally taste better (maths pros only)

Why does toast cut diagonally taste better? Because people have been doing it for hundreds of years when someone toasted bread for the first time. Humans adapted to eating it like that.

Last edited by Choco (2007-04-06 22:04:23)

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"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination," ~ John Lennon

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: why does toast cut diagnally taste better (maths pros only)

To me, toast tastes the same however it is cut (or whether it is cut or not). It’s probably all in the imagination. Maybe people like the look of diagonally cut toast – so the knock-on effect is that they find it tastes better.

John E. Franklin

Member

Registered: 2005-08-29

Posts: 3,588

Re: why does toast cut diagnally taste better (maths pros only)

Triangle toast has an L-shaped crust, which is more gradually changing when you eat it.
The rectangle toast has three sides, one which you have to eat right away unless you eat the middle like cookie monster.

Last edited by John E. Franklin (2007-04-12 04:36:13)

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