Comments on: Mental Imagery and Spatial Rotation Brain Teaser

By: jag61082

jag61082 — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:14:58 +0000

The correct answer is to stack the 4 equal pieces and to cut them straight down.
My 9 year old daughter was so angry that she couldn’t figure this one out. LOL. She actually took out graph paper and a pair of scissors to try to work it out. She is making her mama proud!
This website is great for adult and children’s brains alike. I had to think about this one for a while.

By: Eclipse1601

Eclipse1601 — Sun, 03 May 2009 03:49:32 +0000

if you cut the cake horizontally (transverse) across the middle…that’s one slice.

The other two slices can be cut perpendicular to each other.

This will give you 8 pieces

By: dani

dani — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:14:26 +0000

umm…you can’t cut a cake 3 times and make 8 slices,sorry,it can’t be done! you have to cut it 4 times in order to get 8 slices!!!

By: Susie

Susie — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:55:33 +0000

P.S. I didn’t say it would be a pretty cake.

By: Susie

Susie — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:54:59 +0000

I hope I am not reiterating anyone’s idea. My thought is to first cut horizontally through the entire cake at the vertical midpoint. Take the bottom layer that was just made and put it on top. Press the new “top” layer so that the icing is in between the two tiers. Then make two vertical cuts perpendicular to one another. If the top tier was pressed so that the icing was spread out evenly each of the 8 pieces should have the same amount, including any little swirly icing rings that were around the circumference of the bottom of the original cake (assuming it was a circular cake).

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:14:32 +0000

Cut the cake in half (so it creates two stacked cakes). Then simply make an “x” on the top of the cake. You will end up with 4 pieces stacked on top of 4 pieces.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:36:02 +0000

I had a better solution (in my opinion anyway).

1) Cut the cake equally into four pieces (2 cuts)

2) Place the four equal pieces on top of each other.

3) Cut through the middle of the four layers of the cake quaters (Third cut) making eight equal pieces.

By: Marion

Marion — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:13:31 +0000

I gave this problem to a student of mine many, many years ago. He came up with an answer that I believe is more correct than the standard answer. If equal means "like in quality, nature, or status" and also being the same in every way then his answer would be better. His answer was the same as yours for the first cut and the second cut. His answer differed re: the third cut. He said you would have to take out each of the four pieces and put them on top of each other (assuming you have made something that would hold all the pieces steady). Then you would make the third slice down from the top of the pile through to the bottom. You would then have four "equal" pieces because they would all have icing on their top. Cutting through the middle as the third cut would not allow the last four pieces to have icing on them, thereby not being "equal" to the others. e

By: Cody

Cody — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:18:04 +0000

First you cut the cake down then,wiyhout bringing your knife up make a K and cut a line from the middle of the K.
Then you do the same thing with the other side but this time bring the knife up after you have your backwards K and make a cut in the middle of the K.You’ve made 3 cuts and have 8 slices!!!

By: kapil

kapil — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:41:51 +0000

first cut it from top in to 4 parts equally then youwill get 4 parts and now cut at side in to halfs no you will get 8 parts