If you have a chocolate bar consisting of squares arranged in a rectangular pattern -- say 2 x 5 squares. Your task is to split the bar into small 1 x 1 squares (always breaking along the lines between the squares) with a minimum number of breaks (you may not lift up pieces and place them on top of each other).
How many breaks will it take to break up a 2 x 5 chocolate bar into 1 x 1 squares?
If the chocolate bar has m row by n columns, what is the minimum number of breaks
needed to split it into 1 x 1 squares?
Solution to the Problem:
The answer is 9 breaks for the 2 x 5 bar and (m) (n) - 1 for the m x n bar. It always takes one less than the number of chocolate squares.
Click here for a puzzle about chocolate math!
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Tristan Collins | Winchester, Virginia |
| 2. Walt Arrison | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 3. Emily Auerbach | Columbus, Georgia |
| 4. Mandy Auerbach | Columbus, Georgia |
| 5. Keith Mealy | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| 6. James Alarie | University of Michigan -- Flint, Flint, Michigan |
| 7. Tyler Windham | Columbus, Georgia |
| 8. John Funk | Ventura, California |
| 9. Dave Smith | Toledo, Ohio |
| 10. Jason LaRusso | Winchester, Virginia |
| 11. Cameron S. | Columbus, Georgia |
| 12. Jim Kennedy | Limerick, Ireland |
| 13. Arin Smith | Winchester, Virginia |
| 14. Jeffrey Gaither | Winchester, Virginia |
| 15. Jaime Garcia-Ramirez | Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia |
| 16. John Beasley | Lord Fairfax Community College, Middletown, Virginia |
| 17. David & Judy Dixon | Bennettsville, South Carolina |
| 18. Jonas Sutinen | Tullängsskolan, Hällefors, Sweden |
| 19. Anders Johansson | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 20. Per Björkil | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 21. Tobias Flodmark | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 22. Gustav Nilsson | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 23. Erik Hultgren | Tullängskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 24. Jonathan Jansson | Örebro, Tullängensskola, Sweden |
| 25. Joakim Berggren | Örebro, Tullängskolan, Sweden |
| 26. Stehr Ako | Örebro, Tullängskolan, Sweden |
| 27. Erik Ekman | Örebro, Tullängskolan, Sweden |
| 28. Joanna Sturk | Örebro, Tullängsskolan, Sweden |
| 29. Lisa Sevón | Örebro, Tullängskolan, Sweden |
| 30. Niclas Andersson, Sebastian Jacobson, Andreas Börjesson | Örebro, Tullängskolan, Sweden |
| 31. David Hedberg | Örebro, Tullängsskolan, Sweden |
| 32. Bahadir Güngör | Örebro, Tullängskolan, Sweden |