Cutting a bagel into a Mobius strip

[Mike Nolan]

In the always interesting intersection of math and kitchens, here's a new way to cut a bagel:

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[cwcdesign]

But how do you toast it? ?

[BakerAunt]

I sent that link to a friend who is a math professor. She loved it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I am debating whether or not to show this to my kids as they will want their bagels cut this way and I think I might lose a finger doing it!

[Mike Nolan]

Just tell them you learned the trick from a baker named 3 Fingered Pete!

I'll probably try it some time, but most of the time I make smaller bagels (about 3.25 ounces of dough per bagel, most deli bagels start with around 4.5 ounces of dough) and most of them get a big heap of asiago cheese on top, so slicing them this way might be a bit more challenging.

[BakerAunt]

I saw a segment on the News Hour last night with this mathematician. She suggested getting kids interested in math means telling them not that it's "useful," but that it is "exciting." She also pointed out that theoretical mathematical discoveries that had no obvious practical application at the time when they were discovered have turned out to have significant applications in our time.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife (a certified HS math teacher) completely agrees with her. She has a 'Math is Fun' T-shirt that she got at a regional math conference.

[aaronatthedoublef]

One of my favorite scientists was Robert Ballard. Dr. Ballard made it his mission (besides oceanography) to engage kids. I heard him talk and he said when he was a kid scientists were cool, not nerds, and reminded everyone that Indiana Jones was a scientist.

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