Geometry wasn’t a waste after all
Posted
November 29, 2006 at
2:12 pm by
Prescott
Last night we faced a crisis that most American families endure on a regular basis — one that requires deep thought, introspection, and serious discussion.
What should we get on our pizza?
After going around and around for hours — thin or thick? Spinach and bacon? Sausage? Hawaiian? Veggie Lovers? — the endless gazing at the pizzeria’s menu revealed an interesting fact. Two 10″ pizzas are $.75 cheaper than one 18″ pizza. Huzzah! Our problems were solved! For less money we could order TWO! WHOLE! DIFFERENT! PIZZAS! We shall feast like kings on this prosperous night — anchovies for everyone!
But cheesy bounty does not grace the Carlson doorstep often, so I grew cynical. Surely this must be too good to be true. I reached into the depths of my brain, struggling to recall the lessons from sophomore high school geometry (Hi, Mr. Burton!). How do you figure the area of a circle again? Something to do with pi…. Eureka! I remembered. Gather ’round, children, Papa’s gonna do some calculatin’!
So, are two 10″ pizzas more food than one 18″ pizza? If you haven’t fallen asleep yet, the answer is after the jump.
Area of a circle = pi x radius2
10″ pizza = 5″ radius
3.14 x 52 = 78.5 x 2 pizzas = 157 square inches of pizzaliciousness
18″ pizza = 9″ radius
3.14 x 92 = 254 square inches of pizzaliciousness
So there you have it. And since I already dragged you this far into my madness you should know that we had an 18″ thick crust, half cheese, half pepperoni and mushroom, $19.65 with a coupon.
The pitying of my wife may now commence.
Tags: geometry, insanity, pizza |
3 Responses to “Geometry wasn’t a waste after all”
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1. Connie said:
November 29, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
Hey, no pitying here. I actually applaude the way you have been able to apply one of those classes that always fell under the category of “why do I have to take this” and “This will help me how”. I now have a real-life geometry word problem to add to my list for the teens that ask me why they need that geometry class.
2. anthromomma said:
November 30, 2006 @ 1:47 pm
Nerd.
Unfortunately for me, no amount of extra pizza goodness is worth having to share a crust with the pineapple-mushroom-pickled jalapeno nightmare that my kids call a pizza.
3. Michelle said:
November 30, 2006 @ 6:25 pm
As as a math teacher-in-training who stumbled upon your blog, I’m filing this one under “See! You really can use this stuff in real life!” Thanks!