D20. Geometry Game

Contributed by Dave Richeson, Dickinson College

Figure 1: Game of Slices; you get the pink, they get the purple.

You and a buddy start with a rectangular cake, represented by rectangle A B C D in Figure 1. Then you get to pick any point E between C and D , and the cake is sliced with two straight cuts, from B to E and E to A . Then it’s your friend’s turn to pick a point F between B and C , so that the cake will be sliced from D to F and F to A . The four straight slices intersect at points G , H , and I as shown in Figure 1. You receive piece A G H I of the cake, and the other player receives pieces D E G , C E H F , and B F I .

Determine all points E you can choose on side C D that will prevent your buddy from ending up with more cake (in all) than you do.

This problem originally appeared in the Prisoner’s Dilemma in the 2024 Spring issue of the PMP Newsletter. Solutions will be accepted through 2024 May 15.