Math Is Fun Forum

markedaxe

Member

Registered: 2011-02-02

Posts: 5

chocolate bar - your solution blowed my mind - great!

I was going the way:
ok in n x m I need to break (n-1) times horizontally, and each of n pieces (m-1) times, so I get:
n-1 + n(m-1) = nm-1. But your solution is most elegant

byronjordan

Member

Registered: 2011-01-30

Posts: 14

Re: chocolate bar - your solution blowed my mind - great!

Just like you, I did also. Our way is perhaps a more crude, but more direct, mathetmatical solution. It was the first thought that entered my mind and was the correct solution so it just stuck.

By the way, see
Click here to see message on hiding puzzle solutions in messages.
If you use the hide tag it will hide the solution that you just gave, just in case someone inadvertently sees the solution to the puzzle before they have tried to solve it for themselves. I did the same thing myself the first time I posted a message.

By the way, also, -ed is a common construction in English for the past tense, but "blowed" is not a word. The past tense of blow is "blew".

Last edited by byronjordan (2011-02-25 14:06:30)

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: chocolate bar - your solution blowed my mind - great!

The thing I like about the solution is that it shows that you'll definitely need that many breaks.

Calculating how many breaks you need if you do all horizontal breaks and then all vertical will get you one answer, but then there's the doubt that if you break it in a cleverer way you might be able to reduce the number.

Thinking of it the way the solution does shows that this number of breaks is indeed the best possible.

---

Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

byronjordan

Member

Registered: 2011-01-30

Posts: 14

Re: chocolate bar - your solution blowed my mind - great!

What is hidden here may suggest the answer so only

Last edited by byronjordan (2011-02-03 03:54:41)