Try solving this!

Mr. G

Ok, I saw this on TV a few days ago and thought I would ask you guys if you can figure it out. I know the answer by the way.

You have 3 circular blocks of cheese. One 12m^2, another 16m^2 and the final one 20m^2. You cannot stack them on top of each other. How can you divide them equally into 4 with none left over? It can be done in two cuts.

It's clever too!

Penny Tration

Om nom nom, cheese.

Running Balance

I guess melt them??

AndonHandon

Cut 4m^2 from 16 and 12m^2 from the 24?

Edit: stupid guess unless you eat the leftovers!

Fr_Dougal

Mr. G wrote: »

How can you divide them equally into 3 with none left over? It can be done in two cuts.

It's clever too!

Easy. You cut the two peeps you're supposed to share the cheese with and run.

sligojoek

What does the symbol ^between the m and the 2 mean?

Mr. G

sligojoek wrote: »

What does the symbol ^between the m and the 2 mean?

To the power of 2, so Metres Squared. SI units for area in other words

Cathalh

Put them side by side and cut through all 3 together?

Sofaspud

I'm curious about where you're getting this two-dimensional cheese.

coffeepls

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese.... so much cheese...

Ted_YNWA

Why the fook would you want 52 m^2 of cheese ?

BillyMitchel

Is this the free government cheese?

Mr. G

Running Balance wrote: »

I guess melt them??

Nope!

MS.ing

Sofaspud wrote: »

I'm curious about where you're getting this two-dimensional cheese.

floor of an easi singles factory?


no wait you said cheese..

shopaholic01

What type of cheese?

Sofaspud

MS.ing wrote: »

floor of an easi singles factory?

That's still 3-dimensional, it's just not very tall.

Pataman

What happens if you are lactose intolerant?

chakotha

Put them end to end and make two cuts along the length creating thirds of each?.

AndonHandon

Lay them side by side and cut them?

WoollyRedHat

Well ain't that just cheasy.

freeze4real

16^2 + 24^2 divided by 12^2

coffeepls

Pataman wrote: »

What happens if you are lactose intolerant?

Go outside the cheese chopping room & we'll call you when it's all over

badgerbadger

With a bandsaw

tempnam

Thats some big cheese. I think you mean cm and not M. And you start out with 3 - looking for 4 equal sizes. Not the other way round.

anyway you put the smallest on the largest. Cut through the centre of the largest (from the edge) and round one half of the outline of the smallest and then out the other side. Put the cut piece of the largest piece with the smallest piece. Then just cut the medium sized piece in half.

4 equal sized pieces of cheese...

c_man

What happened to the other block?

EoghanIRL

Can you cut diagonally ?

dgt

This is like Die Hard with a vengance where they needed 4 gallons of water with a 5 gallon and 3 gallon jug to disarm the bomb....

Mr. G

Pataman wrote: »

What happens if you are lactose intolerant?

Your pretty ****ed if you eat it I suppose.

Sorry, it was actually 20 not 24, and you have to divide it into 4.

You can only cut it twice and it's not side by side.

mloc123

Values in the original post have now changed?

Turtwig

Place longest 24x24 square at a slant. This is the hypotenuse. Place the 12 and 16 squares so that their sides are at 90 degrees to the 24 square. In between you should have a triangle whose area is equal to that of all the squares combined. Trace the outline. Divide the triangle into three equal ratios. Then place your cheeses in these and serve.

Mr. G

tempnam wrote: »

Thats some big cheese. I think you mean cm and not M.

anyway you put the smallest on the largest. Cut through the centre of the largest (from the edge) and round one half of the outline of the smallest and then out the other side. Put the cut piece of the largest piece with the smallest piece.

Nope. Units don't matter, but you can't lay them on top of each other.

dotsman

Answer for the original Question
Cut 5 and a third off the 24 block and pile it with the 12 block
cut another 1 and a third off the same block and pile it with the 16 block.
Leaves three piles of 17 and a third.

Answer for the "edited" question
Cut 4 from the block of 20 and pile it with the 12 block.
You now have 3 even piles of 16 - only 1 cut needed.

P.S. Why are you saying there are 4 blocks when there are only 3?

If it's 3 blocks to be cut into 4 even allotments in 2 cuts -also simple:
Cut 4 off the 16 block
Cut 8 off the 20 block and pile it with the 4.
You now have 4 piles of 12.

Wasted 2 minutes of my life trying to solve this with the incorrect OP

WP OP

AndonHandon

My only suggestion for that is to cut 8 from the 20, 4 from the 16 and put those together.

tempnam

Mr. G wrote: »

Nope. Units don't matter, but you can't lay them on top of each other.

You can to use it as a template for cutting.

I saw that programme too. 'School Of Hard Sums'

mloc123

AndonHandon wrote: »

My only suggestion for that is to cut 8 from the 20, 4 from the 16 and put those together.

This

Vizzy

Mr. G wrote: »

Ok, I saw this on TV a few days ago and thought I would ask you guys if you can figure it out. I know the answer by the way.

You have 4 blocks of cheese. One 12m^2, another 16m^2 and the final one 20m^2. You cannot stack them on top of each other. How can you divide them equally into 3 with none left over? It can be done in two cuts.

It's clever too!

That's only 3 blocks of cheeses

tempnam

Mr. G wrote: »

Nope. Units don't matter, but you can't lay them on top of each other.

You can to use it as a template for cutting.

I saw that programme too. 'School Of Hard Sums'

holystungun9

Is it goat's cheese or regular moo cow cheese?

Mr. G

Jernal wrote: »

Place longest 24x24 square at a slant. This is the hypotenuse. Place the 12 and 16 squares so that their sides are at 90 degrees to the 24 square. In between you should have a triangle whose area is equal to that of all the squares combined. Trace the outline. Divide the triangle into three equal ratios. Then place your cheeses in these and serve.

They're not shaped like a square, they're circular in shape.

Bassfish

I like red leister myself, also like wendsleydale, but not the one with the cranberries in it, had a cheddar with walnuts in it recently and that was nice, wait what was the question again?

beanie10

Cut 4sqM off the 20sqM block and add it to the 12sqM block. you now have 3 equal 16sqM blocks of cheese and only one cut!

tempnam

Bassfish wrote: »

I like red leister myself, also like wendsleydale, but not the one with the cranberries in it, had a cheddar with walnuts in it recently and that was nice, wait what was the question again?

The question was: 'did anyone else see Dara O'Brien's "School Of Hard Sums" on Dave the other night?'

ahnowbrowncow

Mr. G wrote: »

They're not shaped like a square, they're circular in shape.

Better put that in the op too :pac:

SteelyDanJalapeno

You can to use it as a template for cutting.

I saw that programme too. 'School Of Hard Sums'

delw

BillyMitchel wrote: »

Is this the free government cheese?

Actually tasted this before,nicer than what you would buy in the shop IMO

coffeepls

Is that the final edit on the cheese question now OP?? It's 3 blocks you have, yeah?

Bassfish

tempnam wrote: »

The question was: 'did anyone else see Dara O'Brien's "School Of Hard Sums" on Dave the other night?'

Ah right, yes, I believe the answer is Stilton!

Mr. G

beanie10 wrote: »

Cut 4sqM off the 20sqM block and add it to the 12sqM block. you now have 3 equal 16sqM blocks of cheese and only one cut!

You have to divide it into 4

jimboblep

total area is 800 m2
so divide largest block in 2 giving 2 200m2 blocks
cut 56m2 off second largest block add tht to smallest block making another 200m2
and leaving 200m2 on the middle block

Fr_Dougal

I think we should use the knife to stab the OP, then steal all his cheese.