Pizza physics (New York-style) - Colm Kelleher
569,127 Views
4,376 Questions Answered
TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
People love eating pizza, but every style of pie has a different consistency. If "New York-style" -- thin, flat, and large -- is your texture of choice, then you've probably eaten a slice that was as messy as it was delicious. Colm Kelleher outlines the scientific and mathematical properties that make folding a slice the long way the best alternative ... to wearing a bib.
Many of the ideas in curved-surface math (which is technically called “differential geometry”) first originated when people tried to draw accurate maps of the Earth’s surface. Maps are drawings of pieces of the surface of the Earth - which is approximately spherical - on flat pieces of paper. But we know that spheres and flat pieces of paper aren’t isometric, so you can’t transform one into the other without stretching. What consequences do you think this might have for the shapes of countries on a map of the world? It helps to visualize this problem if you carefully peel a mandarin orange, and then try to lay the strips down flat on a table.
Login to answer questionAbout TED-Ed Animations
TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »
Meet The Creators
- Educator Colm Kelleher
- Artist Jason Forrest
- Animator Joel Moser
- Director Joel Trussell
- Narrator Colm Kelleher
