You are here

How to Stack Flapjacks

In a blog post for the Guardian, Simon Singh marks the eightieth birthday of mathematician Jacob E. Goodman by describing the so-called pancake sorting problem.

Singh recounts the problem's origins, reproduces the phrasing used when the puzzle first appeared in the Monthly, and notes the lack of a general formula. He also indicates some applications of the problem to biology. And brings both the Simpsons and Bill Gates into it.

Read the post.

Start Date: 
Monday, November 25, 2013