A pizza can be cut into 11 equal pieces using only 4 straight cuts, and more generally, n straight cuts can divide a circle into up to (n²+n+2)/2 pieces—far more than the 2n pieces most people expect.
Notes on verification
Standard result in combinatorial geometry, provable by induction and found in discrete mathematics textbooks [2026-08-28 re-verified orphan: promoted with 5 independent source(s)] [2026-08-29 audit re-verified: 5 independent source(s)]
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_caterer's_sequence (reverify-primary)
- https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CircleDivisionbyLines.html (corroboration)
- https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/aptitude/puzzle-maximum-pieces-that-can-be-cut-from-a-circle-using-6-straight-lines/ (corroboration)
- https://brainly.com/question/41461922 (corroboration)
- https://www.quora.com/How-many-maximum-pieces-a-circle-can-be-cut-with-n-cuts (corroboration)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.04026 (audit-corroboration)
- https://tomrocksmaths.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/teddyrockshenrikhelsen.pdf (audit-corroboration)
- http://campuscoke.blogspot.com/2015/01/maximum-number-of-slices-can-you-obtain.html (audit-corroboration)
- http://www.murderousmaths.co.uk/teacher/pizza.htm (audit-corroboration)