Cutting a piece of cake...
Source:
February 7, 2011
geometry unsolvedgeometry
Problem Statement
Karlson and Smidge divide a cake in a shape of a square in the following way. First, Karlson places a candle on the cake (chooses some interior point). Then Smidge makes a straight cut from the candle to the boundary in the direction of his choice. Then Karlson makes a straight cut from the candle to the boundary in the direction perpendicular to Smidge's cut. As a result, the cake is split into two pieces; Smidge gets the smaller one. Smidge wants to get a piece which is no less than a quarter of the cake. Can Karlson prevent Smidge from getting the piece of that size?