Breaking Up a Chocolate Bar Puzzle
The Puzzle:
How many steps are required to break an m × n sized bar of chocolate into 1 × 1 pieces? |
You cannot break two or more pieces at once (so no cutting through stacks).
You need m×n - 1 steps.
By breaking an existing piece horizontally or vertically, you merely increase the total number of pieces by one.
You already have 1 piece, so need m×n - 1 steps to get to m×n pieces.