![What's the minimum number of cuts you need to make to keep seagulls & fish from getting stuck while staying in one piece?](https://preview.redd.it/2fehizd0re8d1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=136164b57bf5655c7a1444da3d7e9987405ed2c3)
All different types of marine life seem to get these caught on them, so I always snip all the holes out but keep it all together in one piece.
What's the most efficient snip number to save the ocean?
All different types of marine life seem to get these caught on them, so I always snip all the holes out but keep it all together in one piece.
What's the most efficient snip number to save the ocean?
Fold it a bunch of times and make one cut
I may have done this wrong.
Edit: I redid it with a 2x3 ring. Turns out 4 is the answer with no folding.
Now I'm curious if there is a way to fold it so you only need to make one, or if you still need to make 4.
edit: Part 2 post
Maybe but I appreciate the effort you put into it!
cut the top side here instead of bottom (or rather "a side with no folds") and every loop should now have an opening outwards
You had to cut the top one instead of the bottom line.
Fold once more maybe?
Came to say this
Also, we should at least start making these things out of sea turtle food or something.
Wdym? They already are
Wtf mod? This is math memes, not kinky memes!
Wrong.
Proof by mod.
Literally 1948
May the only thing that dampens the flames of hell for you be God spitting in your face
There are at least three ways of answering this: one with folding shenanigans, where I think the answer is just one cut. Or you could define a cut as a straight line in a plane, regardless of how many segments of plastic it cuts through, where the answer might be two, as two cuts tangent to inner edge of the large holes might cut through all the other holes. Or define a cut as going through one segment of plastic, connecting two holes, or a hole to the outside. A torus would require one cut, a two-holed torus two cuts, etc., so this fourteen holed torus would require fourteen cuts.
What makes this a torus and not a foruten holed disc?
Simply that it is a 3d object and a disc is 2d
or you can burn through plastic with lighter and get 0 cuts
You never answered the one way of looking at it that's the most likely one the question assumes.
Which way is that? Taking into account the cutting length of the scissors?
Or thread it onto a blade of the scissors thru each hole
Zero, if you want to save the ocean you need to prevent it from entering the ocean intact or not. Burn it and sacrifice the skies for the seas.
I try not to stock brands with these at my shop but I'm still surrounded by them.
You can do it all in one cut. I don't have any of those to show an example, but I'll try to explain it.
Imagine what you would do if you made 5 cuts. Instead of actually making the cut, thread each hole onto one of the scissor blades; after every hole is on the scissor, then you cut once.
So I refolded a bit. Is this what you're talking about ?
Not quite. One by one put each hole on the blade of the scissors. No need to fold it ahead of time. Fold it onto the scissor blade itself, then cut when it's all folded onto it.
Not what I expected.
Before
After
Yes
That's more than one cut, you're just performing them simultaneously
Using that argument, folding the plastic is also more than one cut that's performed simultaneously.
Yes
One for each hole + hard bend them all as much as you can so they form circles anymore. Also, try to not buy cans packaged like that, a lot of cardboard alternative exists (or maybe not if you live in 'Murica)
I managed to do it in five snips by folding them. (Also, I'm in the wine industry in the US so, sadly, I deal with these all the time.)
I've definitely seen cardboard versions of this in the US, but curiously only for mini cans (7.5 floz).
One.
It won't be strong enough to choke things if it's reduced to half the original thickness.
Just one (click on image to zoom)
Nice but “while staying in one piece” was part of the requirements
oh, didn't notice!
It should look like this at the end.
Ahh shit I somehow forgot 2.
That looks like a sword to me (i'm a topologist)
cuts? none.
just stretch each hole.
To start out, cutting out each hole with one cut takes 14 cuts: 6 rings, then 4 per side between the sets of 3.
If we fold it in thirds, we can stack the rings down to 2 cuts. Since we can’t cut the wide middle piece connecting the sets of 3, we get 2 cuts for the thin pieces. Then we have to unfold and cut between each of one side of rings. This all brings us to 6 cuts.
We can fold that third in half again, stacking all 6 rings for 5 cuts. Fold the third in half the other way, stacking the thin pieces for 4 cuts. If we fold the whole thing in half along the middle ring and cut between the two rings we can get 3 cuts.
So 3 cuts, first folding the whole thing in half along the middle ring and cutting between two rings adjacent to each other. Then folding it into thirds, then in half to stack the rings for the second cut. Then folding in thirds again, in half the other way to make the third cut along the small plastic between the rings. This should open up all the holes in 3 cuts.
Any lower than this is left as an exercise for the reader.
Depending on how loose our definition of one “cut” is this could be a one cut solution
This worked.
It shouldn't end up in the ocean in the first place
Snip it infinite times to get -1/12 snips
Assuming a long pair of scissors and no folding, three cuts, lengthways.
At the very least we can get it down to three even with smaller scissors by folding and then doing those three cuts in the same direction you are suggesting.
Wait if it takes 3 cuts does that mean, even if it's folded any way you want, you can't do it in one cut?
If one can catch one fish, then a million could catch a million fish!
If it's in the ocean, it'll kill sea turtles anyway. They think it looks like jellyfish, their food.
The only correct answer is kill it with fire.
If you put it in the trash, will it still end up in the ocean?
The one piece is real?
0, I rip em by hand
Skill issue, it’s one, git gud
Where are the one piece fans
One cut the hotdog way unfolded. Then fold into thirds the hamburger way and make one cut to break the inner part of each circle.
0 Kill all seaguls and fish
Assuming we can only cut one width of plastic at a time, my answer is 6 I think.
Recycle as soft plastic, dammit!
One cut. You line up the necks of all the rich people that profit off of not having to deal with the trash they produce, and slice, in Minecraft.
With this one simple trick mathematicians are turning plastic into trees.
Couldn't you just fold it in half, hotdog style, then make a single cut across all but the very last plastic bit? Then it would essentially be a big "T," wouldn't it?
Just don't throw it out?!?! Put it in a box and save it up, you never know when you need a lot of plastic no cuts required and it's in one piece and the turtles are safe.
One, fold it in half and cut all the way through one side, you will have three intact strands connected at the base
In the strictest definition of a “cut” that I can see, the structure can be seen as a graph. Each “strand” of plastic is an edge and where strands meet is a vertex. Each cut deletes an edge. And your goal is to reduce the graph to a tree (connected and no cycles / loops). But we know exactly the number of edges in a tree (n-1). So we just count the number of edges and vertices of the original. I see 22 vertices and 35 edges. So you must cut 14.
It’s actually homomorphic to a coffee mug
THE ONE PIECE!
cut the seagull in half
None. The original advertisement showing the dangers of this sort of plastic to wildlife was faked by the advertising agency in order to shock. A successful ad, wasn't it, it even made its way into a Simpsons episode.
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