• julianwgs@discuss.tchncs.de
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    11 months ago

    I once taught private lessons in math on calculating the area of a circle and I wanted to show the students how much cheaper per area a larger pizza is. So we of course got the diameters of pizzas from their favorite restaurant and started calculating. Then we found out that the normal sized pizza was actually the cheapest per area. It wasn‘t quite what we expected, but a very good math lesson for the attendees nonetheless: The owner lost money, because they were bad at maths.

    • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      You didn’t consider the crust ratio, did you?

      The crust tends to be a consistent width, so it represents a greater portion of a smaller pizza, shrinking the bit most people are there for.

      …but hey, if you love the crust just as much, more power to ya!

        • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          I love having a ton of pizza boxes because it makes me feel like a ninja turtle

        • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          A thin crust pizza is just a small pizza stretched out to the size of a larger pizza … it’s paying for a large pizza while asking for a small pizza.

          I tell this to my wife all the time but she still loves her thin crust pizza.

          • Turun@feddit.de
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            11 months ago

            It depends what you want to get for your money.

            A meal you like and enjoy eating?

            Or the maximum amount of pizza-ish mass per dollar?

            • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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              11 months ago

              We’re spoiled … we’ve had actual Neapolitan pizza that was baked in a traditional stone oven in Italy made with carefully prepared dough, fresh ingredients and thick heavy tasty mozzarella and a big ball of bufala campana cheese in the center … pizza so thin, light and tasty that you can eat a whole one yourself and its a proper sized meal … my wife and I both had it and that is the constant standard she is after when she orders those thin crust pizzas here in northern Ontario Canada. I keep telling her that we have to go to the city to find anything remotely like the real Italian stuff and we’ll never get it anywhere else … yet we still keep ordering thin crust pizza hoping that some day some Italian will just make us a real pizza one day and make it for us.

              So it’s no longer a cost/benefit thing … just a nostalgia about pizzas past.

    • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Did you take into account that the crust takes away area from the “filling”? Because me and my husband also once did the math (not sure if we were frugal, bored or broke) and it all came down on whether you eat/enjoy the crust or not

            • risottinopazzesco
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              11 months ago

              I’m guessing because the crust can be delicious on its own when the pizza is made by someone who knows their shit. Or, just drop a bit of olive oil on that fucker, no extra stuff needed.

              Of course it’s a matter of taste. The more dipping sauces and strong, complex flavors you use, the more you need them. There’s nothing bad about it, but it is pretty cool to be able to appreciate simple tastes, as getting those right is way harder when cooking.

            • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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              11 months ago

              Honestly my first thought was a big fat crust being dipped in ranch and somehow this felt disgusting (but to each their own).

          • Bonehead@kbin.social
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            11 months ago

            We would just ask for extra marinara sauce or donair sauce on the side before the prepackaged dipping sauces were introduced. Dipping crusts in sauce has been around for a very long time…even where you live…

          • key@lemmy.keychat.org
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            11 months ago

            One of the most common dipping sauces is the same sauce put on the pizza, just put some aside next time you make a pizza.

  • Squeak@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    But the 2 12” pizzas have more crust, so it depends what you prefer.

    I’m wholly in the pizza centre and fuck the crust camp. But for those who like the crust…

  • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    ok but that picture is clearly one 18" pizza vs two 18" pizzas that have been hit by a shrink ray, meaning the two on the right have twice as much nutrition as the one on the left.

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      It’s 6.99 for a 12in pizza with 2 toppings but $20 for a 18in with no toppings. I don’t even know why it’s a option.

  • thekaufaz@toast.ooo
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    11 months ago

    You can compare areas with just r^2 you don’t even need pi. So the math is easy.

    • BluesF@feddit.uk
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      11 months ago

      A pizza is larger than two of another just before it hits 1.5 times the radius (sqrt 2 times, to be exact, about 1.41). So if the radius is 1.5 times bigger, like in the OP, you always know it’s more than twice the area.

  • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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    11 months ago

    This is why, if you order pizza, getting anything less that the absolute largest size they offer is throwing your money away. Leftover pizza is great.

      • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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        11 months ago

        That’s calculator doesn’t take into account the crust ratio, which is much higher for smaller pizzas too.

        • Tbird83ii@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          11 months ago

          Woah woah woah… We need to BTFU and reevaluate our test methodology. No one defined what “pizza” is in this case…

          Are we saying the whole pie, crust and all? Or are we saying ratio of crust to filling? This equation is flawed.

            • affiliate@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              it is not about a difference in value, but how they harmonize together. the interior of the pizza gets its strength from the crust, and vice versa, but these elements are only truly in harmony once the pizza achieves an ideal pie/crust ratio.

      • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Dominos actually got better. It’s not amazing but they took it on the chin a few years back and were like, “our pizza sucks. We need to do better” and they actually improved it quite a bit.

      • dana@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        They also have carryout one topping 14" pizzas for $8 in my area, which is an even better deal than $7 for 12".

    • Sloogs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      The math only really works for 18+ inch pizzas though. The pizza places around me don’t even offer 18 inch pizzas. 14" large or 16" XL are the highest they go. In that case at most places near me, two twelves is often cheaper per square inch and does have more area than one 14" or 16". Especially since Domino’s usually has coupons for two 12s that make it significantly cheaper than 1 L or XL.

      • curiousaur@reddthat.com
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        11 months ago

        Factor in the crust ratio of those though. We’re talking 1.5 inch of crust, so 16" vs 12" is actually more like comparing 13" to 9" of pizza with cheese and topping. 132 v 64 square inches. You’re getting 70 squares inches of crust on that 16", and 49 square inches of crust on the 12 inch. So more total food on 2 12s, but a lot more crust than one 16.

        • Lumu@beehaw.org
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          11 months ago

          Even better!

          Make it extra crust with pieces of crust as a topping and it’ll be perfect.

      • stewie3128@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Pizza place that just opened up down the street from me only offers one size:

        18 inches.

        The other option is to purchase by the slice.

  • Franklin@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I figured this out pretty quick when I was 16 trying to calculate the optimal pizza per $ order when I first started getting allowance

  • marty@infosec.pub
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    11 months ago

    Importantly, it also has a different crust-to-center ratio, which - depending on your taste - could be a reason to go for less pizza.

    • ares35@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      given a choice, i usually go with larger pizzas for crispy thin crust (also cut those in squares); and smaller ones for ‘deep dish’ or pan, where there isn’t really an outside ‘crust’.