How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves | Hacker News Reader

How to Slice a Bagel into Two Linked Halves

georgehart.com

350 pointsdangoldin25 comments

He is especially known for workshops he has led around the world constructing very large models of four-dimensional polytopes (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), These extraordinary activities expose participants to important conceptual ideas they might never experience otherwise... his alternative introductions to mathematical topics are often effective for engaging students who are not attracted to traditional mathematics teaching.

http://www.georgehart.com/research/hartbiog.html

This has huge bar-bet potential.

Oops, sorry. Accidental downmod. Damn these tiny buttons on the iPhone.

"In additional to the intellectual stimulation, you get more cream cheese, because there is slightly more surface area." Finally, maximum cream cheese intake problem solved.

I'm sure some other cutting gives maximum cream cheese.

Sure if instead of making a solid line cut around the middle you use a wave or zig-zag you'd add more cream cheese.

Or start from the top and cut in a spiral pattern like peeling an apple and you can get a long strip of bagel with tons of cream cheese application surface.

what a long explanation!

i assume that's equivalent to slicing the "tube" while rotating the knife completely around the axis of the "tube".

and if you only do half a rotation you should get a mobius bagel :o)

Like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Vuh16r8o8

bingo!

thanks for that - i've been racking my head trying to think where in santiago i could buy a bagel tomorrow. now i have no need :o)

I met George in March 2008 - fascinating man - and I have his screw-together cube puzzle:

http://www.georgehart.com/puzzles/cube-puzzle.html

I wish I had more money so I could buy more of his stuff - it's utterly intriguing.

Almost totally unrelated:

http://www.rogersconnection.com/

just wanted to strain your wallet a little further =P (and your mind, of course)

I actually laughed out loud. Well done, sir.

I did as well. Savory.

I first heard of George Hart in connection with Zometools, a fine educational toy for current or future hackers.

http://www.zometool.com/

Thanks for pointing out those toys. I just ordered a set for my nieces and nephew. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Zometool-ZS005-1-Creator/dp/B00001W0DS...

The doughnut version http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/12/even-cooler-the-mobiu...

Yummm, looks deliciously. Are bagels an american thing? I can't remember seeing them in Europe.

You can usually find them in America, I don't know if we invented them though. It looks like they're of Polish Jewish origin.

are you joking? they are a european jewish thing (from poland, according to wikipedia).

they only seem to be commercially popular in the usa/canada/uk, but you should be able to find them in any jewish deli/bakery in mainland europe.

Well, origin and source of popularity are two different things. While most yeast-free methods of baking can be traced to Jewish roots, the bagel in it's current, cream-cheese dressed form was made popular (and for most intents "invented") in the US, in much the same way as the minced beef introduced to Hamburg in the 19th century by Russian sailors bears little similarity to the food that made McDonalds successful.

Not to mention the Doner Kebap you get in Germany vs the Turkish original.

If only I could order my bagle like this at a coffee shop.

New business idea? Call it "Mobius" and serve all your coffee and beverages out of klein bottles (with holes)? Find ways to Mobius-ify all the food...

Just Coooooooooooooool man

shout out to mglukhovsky and bkudria

You guys should have taken his sculpture class.

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