In one slice, cut a third off of each apple, and you’re left with 3 portions of 2/3 an apple each
What’s bothering me is, mathematically that is the answer, but practically the apple is a non uniform shape so you cant really determine where a third of the apple truly is and it has seeds in the middle meaning two of the kieces will have seeds one the one getting the two cut off pieces won’t so its not truly shared equally.
“Equal” has a slightly different meaning in fair division problems. It doesn’t mean “the exact same quantity of matter”, so not being able to judge exactly 1/3 of the apple doesn’t super matter (though your seed problem can be solved by cutting diagonally through the apples rather than along one side), but rather, that each person gets a portion they value at least as much as the others; maybe some people are willing to take a smaller piece if it means they have no seeds, maybe some people are going to peel their piece so they care more about having the largest internal volume, maybe some people plan to plant the seeds and so they actually value them, maybe some people only care about having the biggest piece.
In practice, for three people this can take as few as 2 cuts or as many as 6; since there’s two apples and we can do 2 cuts with one stroke here, there is a fair division solution, but it only works if things go perfectly:
The first person cuts the apples into 3 shares they think are of equal value (perhaps they hate apple cores, so they cut one side off both as above)
The second person points out which share(s) they think are the best
The third person takes the share they consider to be most valuable
The second person takes the share they consider to be most valuable
The first person takes the remaining share, which, since they cut, they must consider equal to the other two.
If the second person doesn’t think at least two shares are of equal value, the problem becomes impossible to resolve without more knifeplay.
If anyone is interested, there’s this video by Up and Atom that neatly shows the complexity.
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I think that one person can decide where to cut the first apple and another person can independently decide where to cut the second apple, so the problem is actually a little easier. I posted my attempt at a solution as the top-level post. (My solution does assume that all three people have the same preferences.)
Yeah, that would work assuming nobody has competing preferences, nobody feels jealousy, and especilaly as long as the third person has no preference for the first apple. It’s servicable for this riddle.
Yeah. It’s a bad question. Why only one stroke? If you cut the apples into cubes and doled them out equally it’d be a much better and more equal experience. The problem presented is a lie, it’s just a geometry puzzle.
I’m sure with some calibrating you could just cut off 1/3 of the edible portion. While the core-containing portions would be heavier, the edible apple weight would be the same. It wouldn’t be easy to do first try though
Cut the leaf off with the one slice then each person just eats a third of each apple with their teeth.
What bothers me is how dangerous that procedure would be
Or cut both of them in half and throw out half an apple.
Didn’t say all of the apple.
Flat skull Winnie the Pooh.tiff
How do you do that in one slice?
Aim for the jugular
Line the apples up next to each other, I guess. Sort of like taking a single slice through multiple carrots on the cutting board at once. Harder to do with apples given their shape, but I’d the knife is big enough, or you’re counting a slice as “single continuous motion” then it is probably valid.
I can’t think of any other physical solution that isn’t a joke, so this is the most probable puzzle solution. In a D&D setting I might require a slight of hand check with a very low DC to pull off the single slicing motion.
You line up the apple and cut both at the same time
Cut 2/3 of both apples leaving 2x2/3 segments and 2x 1/segments (2/3 cut in half for those of you who struggle with fractions)
I’m american, we would forget fraction entirety if we ever switched to the metric system.
gow can you cut a third of each apple in one slice
Line them up so only 33% of each apple gets cut when you slice.
Stack the apples on top of each other and cut from the top down.
Align the two apples so they’re off center to one another. One has 2/3 on the outside to the left, 1/3 to the right, the other 2/3 to the outside to the right, 1/3 to the left.
Bird’s eye view, the single line cutting both apples will leave us with the left 2/3 of the first apple and the right 2/3 of the second, and a third portions made of 2 thirds, or another 2/3 of an apple.
One cut, 2 apples, 3 equal portions.
Visualisation.
Those are some weird looking titties
Get yo ass to Mars
Easier:
(…|.)
(…|.)
So from what I see here, if I slam the knife down on both other people, I get 2 apples?
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You could simply murder one of the players
You know, that does sound easier than aligning some janky-ass shaped apples just right.
Is that not the joke? Am I a psycho now?
Not alone, I assumed that was the joke here.
In a single stroke? With 1d4 damage?
If you have a wizard in your party, I guess.
No need to align them like that. Just place them one behind the other and cut off one third on the side (with a single stroke).
But which one is lawful good and which one is chaotic evil?
They don’t have to be aligned off center from each other, just as long as you cut a third off of each in one stroke.
Alternatively, one person just stabs one of the others, and the two survivors each get a whole apple.
Dumb question, how do you make two apples off center from each other?
You’re right that they’re off-center from a first “symmetry line” you have to draw.
So: you place them on your cutting board. Trace an imaginary vertical bird’s eye view that passes by the center of both. Now based on that imaginary line, move both apples so they’re offset 2/3-1/3 from that line in each direction.
I thought about this at first but then two people get the core as part of their portion and one doesn’t :(
Lay them on the side and cut through them horizontally, everyone gets core
Simple solution to that is the cores are a problem for the two people that aren’t in possession of the knife.
What the fuck is this single-use knife
With forensics being as good as they are now, they’ll probably figure out the knife you used the first time is the same knife you used the second time.
You really can’t have a favourite knife anymore. Gotta dispose of it right away or they’ll work out the pattern without needing to figure out the riddles you left behind at the scene. It’s cheating really, but the only thing you can do to prevent it is by taking the “single-use knife” approach.
It’s the kind of knife you buy for your first apartment
Dollar Tree knife.
What my group will do
Kill one person, yeah we are so dumb :D
With one stroke? Does your group only consist of level 1 wizards or is it some kind of legendary knife?
That’s a classic critic against D&D if one stroke of knife is deadly IRL it should be in RPG.
That said, 3 players means a GM so just cut in half and you get 4 piece including one for the GM
The monk beats both other PCs unconscious and then uses the knife to cut off as much apple as they care to eat.
You tie the unlucky member to sacrifice. Maybe one with low fortitude. And use coup de grace. Probably it will die One shot with one stroke. Technically it’s doable ^^
Stab a player… We can just reincarnate them after the puzzle
This was my vote except for reincarnating. I’m sure one of them deserves it. Probably. Maybe.
Whatever we can find some other fucker to help us in the tavern.
I play a cleric in my party. Previously, we’ve been asked to recover and return a certain plot-important NPC who didn’t exactly want to be transported…
We killed him, transported the corpse, handcuffed it, and then raised him at the destination. It’s a lot easier to transport a body than a live half-elf who is actively trying to escape.
Did you draw dicks on his face?
We may be evil, but we aren’t chaotic. A professional has standards.
So… High quality dicks then?
Naturally. Using Arcane Mark, so it doesn’t wash off.
Thats my boy.
Just say “Why don’t we just use the knife multiple times to cut the apples into quarters so two people get 3/4 of an apple while one gets half an apple? One person gets a quarter apple less than the other two but it’s not a big deal is it?”
Whoever complains about this approach gets stabbed.
Lowest common denominator is 6… Or murder.
It can be done in 4 pieces. Whole numbers aren’t necessary for the pieces.
Four is just two twos but doesn’t have three as a factor, so four still isn’t equally shareable among three without either not sharing some or, hear me out, murder.
Two pieces equal to 1/3 of the total and two pieces equal to 1/6th. Everyone gets a third with 4 pieces, but one person has two smaller pieces that add up to a third. You can accomplish this by cutting one third off each apple with a single stroke,.
If we can go through multiple apples in a single stroke, then we can assume we’re allowed to a) go through the same apple multiple times b) make curved, complex strokes c) murder party members.
I think you’re stretching the definition of a single stroke a bit thin. 😂
“These three want to share…” specifically precludes murder.
Watch as chaotic evil don’t care, failing the test but having fun anyway:-P.
Cake or death!
I think that’s least common multiple, as opposed to the greatest common denominator.
They’re related, but since we’re dealing with fractions and not integers, it’s LCD
See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_common_multiple and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowest_common_denominator
Ah, that makes sense, thanks! I haven’t heard of the term before so it threw me off-guard.
Six murders? My party would be happy to oblige.
Interesting how murder was the option chosen. Some would have chosen self-sacrifice instead.
Paladins maybe? Unless suicide is taboo
If you want the portions to be topologically identical I think the fewest cuts is 3?
The joke is you take the knife and kill another player
Why not both!
With one strike? You’d ruin the apples.
Good point. How would you explain the situation to the other friend?
“Congratulations, other friend! You are clearly my favorite.”
I can just imagine what that would look like in an adult swim animation.
I know, just got me curious what the actual minimum is without having uneven pieces
In that case I think we can do it in two cut, stacking the apple on top of each other you cut at 0 and 120 degree
Well, regardless, someone’s getting hurt. Have you tried cutting two whole apples, one on top of the other? It’s non-trivial! They aren’t exactly stable and the rogue’s gonna try to swipe one or both as soon as you move your own fingers out of the way. May as well get it over with and stab the rogue to start.
MURDEEER
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The first person decides where the first apple would be cut, such that he would be equally happy with either taking the larger portion or dividing up what remains.
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The second person either says he wants that larger portion, in which case he’s done, or he says he wants to divide up what remains, in which case the first person takes the larger portion and is done.
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The third person decides where the second apple would be cut.
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Either the first or second person (depending on the outcome of the second step) picks either the larger portion of the second apple or the two smaller portions.
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The third person takes what remains.
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The two apples are cut and their pieces distributed.
This doesn’t guarantee a solution, since it’s possible that the third person would have wanted the larger portion of the first apple. It only works if we assume that the first person, when given the motivation to cut fairly, does so with high precision. Otherwise the first person can, by screwing himself over, also screw over the third person.
Neat, but you failed since it requires more than one slice
No, you line the apples up under the knife and then slice once. Each apple can be moved relative to the knife and independently of the other apple.
I should have been more specific when I said things like
takes the larger portion
because what I meant by that is “permanently claims the larger portion as his own”. The apple is not cut (once) and no one actually gets their pieces in their hands until step 6.
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Oh boy, free apples! Wait… cast detect magic…
I am fully awake now, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of cutting it not down the middle. Haha. There’s a fairly easy way to calculate where to cut a sphere so that the sphere segment has a desired volume. Similar to the formula used in this video.
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My chaotic neutral undead warlock has the solution.
Cut two 1/6s
