Extensions of cut-and-choose fair division (Q677613)

The ancient method of ``one cuts the other chooses'' for fair division has the attractive property that the noncutter has simply to chose a preferred piece. Here it is shown that a cake can be fairly divided between two players in any ratio using a (possibly infinite) sequence of such simple cut-and-choose steps requiring only a preference decision. The method is extended to any number of players and requirements for needing only finitely many cuts are discussed. Also, a modified method is given which always uses only a finite number of cuts and moreover appears to be quite efficient in terms of number of cuts used.