I took the pizza out of the oven, the hot oven, with hot air coming out of it. There were four of us, so I would need four pieces. But how do I make sure that the four pieces are even enough?
It's easy if there are two people. You cut it in half, or try as best as you can, and the other person gets to choose the piece they want. That way, if one of the pieces is bigger, the other person will choose the bigger piece. The cutter, then, has the incentive to keep the pieces as even as possible, because the cutter knows that if there is a bigger piece and a smaller piece, he will get the smaller piece.
Fair pizza partitioning for two is simple.
But what about fair pizza partitioning for four? Well, I cut it in quarters. I didn't have calipers, and I didn't know where to start, so I tried my best.
I let Igor choose first. Instead of choosing the biggest piece, he chose the piece with the most basil leaves and most cheese. There's more than size to a fair pizza slice.
This is a five-minute freewrite based on the prompt fourth. Although the pedantic will complain that this particular word doesn't appear, the astute will notice that the concept does appear – somewhat.