Problem:
Dylan has a square, and wants to cut it into pieces of area at least . Each cut must be a straight line (not a line segment) and must intersect the interior of the square. What is the largest number of cuts he can make?
Problem:
Dylan has a square, and wants to cut it into pieces of area at least . Each cut must be a straight line (not a line segment) and must intersect the interior of the square. What is the largest number of cuts he can make?
Solution:
Since each piece has area at least and the original square has area , Dylan can end up with at most pieces. There is initially piece, so the number of pieces can increase by at most . Each cut increases the number of pieces by at least , so Dylan can make at most cuts. Notice that this is achievable if Dylan makes vertical cuts spaced at increments of units.