Cut a piece of paper
Source: Germany Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik 2006, Day 1, Problem 4
April 4, 2006
Problem Statement
A piece of paper with the shape of a square lies on the desk. It gets dissected step by step into smaller pieces: in every step, one piece is taken from the desk and cut into two pieces by a straight cut; these pieces are put back on the desk then.
Find the smallest number of cuts needed to get -gons.