Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
'Cheese Cutting' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/
This is a difficult visualisation problem to tackle, not least
because is it very difficult to create a physical model with which
it is possible to experiment with the slicing. Visualisation is
thus crucially required.
The problem can be attempted at various levels, from having an
educated guess at the answer to providing a proof of the maximum
possible number of pieces.
If solvers are unable to prove the maximum number of pieces they
should certainly be encouraged to describe their best effort at a
slicing as clearly and convincingly as possible. Try to establish
the existence of an upper bound on the number of pieces.
In practice, the solver may be able to spot the answer quite
quickly, but providing an explanation of the answer may be very
hard. Solvers should be encouraged to try to explain their answer
as clearly as possible in words if a sound mathematical argument
cannot intially be provided.