Math Is Fun Forum

Pratham Kundur

Member

Registered: 2018-05-09

Posts: 1

it should be m*n-1 right?

How many steps are required to break an m × n sized bar of chocolate into 1 × 1 pieces?

You can break an existing piece of chocolate horizontally or vertically.

You cannot break two or more pieces at once (so no cutting through stacks).
Our Solution:

You need m×n - 1 steps.

By breaking an existing piece horizontally or vertically, you merely increase the total number of pieces by one.

You already have 1 piece, so need m×n - 1 steps to get to m×n pieces

Last edited by Pratham Kundur (2018-06-24 08:55:45)

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,640

Re: it should be m*n-1 right?

hi Pratham Kundur

Welcome to the forum.

I think this is from the MIF puzzles: https://www.mathsisfun.com/puzzles/brea … ution.html

Are you suggesting an alternative answer?

Your post title is unclear.

Did you mean

A simple test for any formula is to try some values.  Let's try m = n = 2

The above three give -1, +1, and +1 respectively.

None of these will give a correct number of breaks.

Bob

---

Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob