Homer Jay Simpson Redux

After reading the comments for the Homer Jay Simpson puzzle and getting an email from Ken Brown, I realized that the real puzzle I was thinking of was “into how many pieces can one cut a torus using three planes.”

4 Replies to “Homer Jay Simpson Redux”

  1. I laughed David, I laughed for a long time!
    Ps. The quickness of this response has to do with an RSS newsreader.

  2. Eight. Two vertical cuts that intersect, followed by one horizontal cut edge to edge.
    If you want to make the puzzle harder, you can require that all the pieces be the same size and shape and contain the same volume. The only difference in the answer is that all the planes must be perpendicular to each other and through the center of the torus.
    There is a common puzzle about cutting a cake. The question usually is how many cuts does it require to cut a cake into 8 equal pieces.
    Same methodology for 3 cuts.
    Oldtimer

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