How to cut a pie into 14 pieces

Cutting a Thanksgiving pie can easily become a mismatched mess. We’re only human, and being able to slice perfectly portioned pieces is no easy feat. But fans of egalitarian eating rejoice (!), your salvation may have arrived in the form of a helpful math (!!) video.

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How do you cut a piece of pie into many pieces?
How many pieces are in a pie?

The video is from the Youtube account of So What Learning and will give you a geometry lesson you are unlikely to forget. Using only a piece of paper wrapped in plastic, the video breaks down a pie into a perfect half, then a perfect quarter, and finally a perfect eighth. Behold a delicious pumpkin pie divided into 8 same-size slices. Too good to be true? Check out the proof:

There you have it: a pumpkin pie for eight—without skimping on anyone’s slice. Will this technique hold up for some of the other Thanksgiving classics? Can a crunchy pecan pie take the trigonometric treatment? Will the crust of an apple torte hold up to geometry? These answers still remain to be seen. Until then, I will welcome geometry to my Thanksgiving table and give this little trick a whirl.

Will you try out this trick or leave it behind? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Valerio is a freelance food writer, editor, researcher and cook. He grew up in his parent's Italian restaurants covered in pizza flour and drinking a Shirley Temple a day. Since, he's worked as a cheesemonger in New York City and a paella instructor in Barcelona. He now lives in Berlin, Germany where he's most likely to be found eating shawarma.

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How do you cut a piece of pie into many pieces?

Step 2 — Place a long serrated knife across the pie and press gently to cut through the edges of the crust. You're just scoring the pie and marking the top, not cutting all the way through. Step 3 — Wipe the knife with each press to keep the cream as neat as possible. Repeat to score the pie into six slices.

How many pieces are in a pie?

If the pie is heftier or filled with dense filling, you may want to go for eight pieces. Otherwise, six slices is standard for most 9-inch pies. For pan pies, like our favorite sweet and savory slab pies, you can get 12 pieces per dish.