Why You Should Always Order the Large Pizza
What should you order? One large pizza or two medium pizzas?
We all know the predicament. You're looking through the menu for the pizza takeaway and notice they have a special offer on for medium pizzas. You can get two medium 12-inch pizzas for the same price as one large 18-inch pizza. It seems like a no-brainer. Surely, the two medium pizzas give you more pizza, hence a better deal. Or do they?
Let's take a look at the maths.
Let's take a look at the maths.
Should you order one large pizza or two medium pizzas? -
Pizza picture courtesy of MANRASA
Mathematics finds the best deal
Fortunately, it's fairly simple to work out how much pizza we would be getting for each option. The pizzas are circles, and the formula for the area of a circle is area = π × (radius)^2.
Our pizzas' measurements are for the diameters, so by halving these and substituting them into the formula, we can find the areas of our pizzas.
Our pizzas' measurements are for the diameters, so by halving these and substituting them into the formula, we can find the areas of our pizzas.
- Area of one large 18-inch pizza = π × 9^2 = 254.5 in^2
- Area of two medium 12-inch pizzas = 2 × π × 6^2 = 226.2 in^2
What about the crusts?
There is another issue to be explored: What about the crusts?
Some people love the crusts (especially if they are stuffed crusts), whereas some people don't like them at all. As this can also affect which choice is the best, we're going to look at this too.For ease of calculation, let's assume that the crust is 1 inch wide. We can calculate the area of crust for each option by working out how much non-crust pizza there is and subtracting this from our earlier pizza area answers. As the crust is 1 inch wide, the radius of the non-crust part of the pizza must be 1 inch less than that of the whole pizza (8 inches for the large pizza and 5 inches for the medium pizzas).
So, the medium pizzas provide slightly more crust, which may sway the choice for any stuffed crust lovers out there.
Some people love the crusts (especially if they are stuffed crusts), whereas some people don't like them at all. As this can also affect which choice is the best, we're going to look at this too.For ease of calculation, let's assume that the crust is 1 inch wide. We can calculate the area of crust for each option by working out how much non-crust pizza there is and subtracting this from our earlier pizza area answers. As the crust is 1 inch wide, the radius of the non-crust part of the pizza must be 1 inch less than that of the whole pizza (8 inches for the large pizza and 5 inches for the medium pizzas).
- Area of crust on large pizza = 254.5 - π × 8^2 = 53.4 in^2
- Area of crust on two medium pizzas = 226.2 - 2 × π × 5^2 = 69.1 in^2
So, the medium pizzas provide slightly more crust, which may sway the choice for any stuffed crust lovers out there.
How much crust do you want?
So the maths has decided it. If you are looking for the most pizza for your money, you should go with one large pizza.
If you are a crust-fiend and want that extra bit of crust on your pizza, then you should go with the two medium pizzas.
If you are a crust-fiend and want that extra bit of crust on your pizza, then you should go with the two medium pizzas.
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