Three identical buns, four boys, one fair split — with only five pieces
Three round buns, all the same size and thickness, need to be divided into shares so that four boys receive exactly equal amounts. Cuts can be made anywhere, but the puzzle asks for it to be done using the fewest possible pieces. What's the minimum?
Reveal the answer
Five pieces. Three of the four boys receive their equal share as a single piece, while the fourth boy's share is made up of two smaller pieces — an unexpectedly economical solution given that naively quartering all three buns would produce twelve pieces. It's puzzle No. 148 in Henry Dudeney's Amusements in Mathematics (1917).
— Henry Dudeney, Amusements in Mathematics — Puzzle No. 148, 1917 — public domain