Puzzle | 3 cuts to cut round cake into 8 equal pieces

A birthday cake arrives at a hotel party with eight guests eager to eat, but there’s time for only three quick straight cuts. Can the cake be divided into eight equal pieces with just three cuts?

Check if you were right - full answer with solution below.

Solution:

Observation: Imagine the cake as a 3D object. First, make two straight cuts across the top at right angles to each other; this gives you four equal parts. Then, make one horizontal cut through the middle of the cake to split those parts in half. Now you have eight equal pieces, no need to stack or move anything around.

The solution can be divided into 3 basic steps. But apart from this, there are also other methods of executing this task.

Step 1: Make the first straight cut across the top surface along a diameter, splitting the cake into two equal semicircles.

Step 2: Make a second straight cut across the surface, perpendicular to the first and also through the diameter, creating four equal quarters in the top view.

Step 3: Make one clean horizontal cut through the middle of the cake’s height, turning the four quarters into eight equal slices, using your third and final cut. You will end up with 8 pieces of cake .

Note: There are other methods too to complete this task.