Problem 42460. The cake is a lie...
You're hosting a birthday party with a large number of screaming children. Fortunately, you have a gigantic sheet cake in front of you that can be cut a large number of times. Given the number of kids at the party, find the minimum number of cuts you need to make to give all of them at least one piece. There can be pieces left over, but you need to make sure that everyone gets at least one piece. Fortunately, the pieces of cake don't have to be the same size.
Good luck!
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for those detail-oriented (i.e. picky) I imagine cuts need to be straight lines, and the cake is two-dimensional?
You're half right: the cuts have to be straight. The cake is 3-D, though. Assume the cake is a rectangular solid, and all cuts are planar.
thanks for the clarification!
death^H^H^H^Hservings by a thousand cuts
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