Pancake-Cutting Problem
Pancake-Cutting Problem
The pancake-cutting problem is to determine the maximum number of pieces into which a pancake can be divided by straight cuts with a knife. The existing cuts divide a new cut into segments, each of which divides an existing piece into two pieces. Therefore, , with initial condition . Using Mathematica’s RSolve function, we see that the number of pancake pieces after cuts is (+n+2).
f(n)
n
n
n+1
f(n+1)=f(n)+(n+1)
f(0)=1
n
1
2
2
n