# An Optimal Solution for the Muffin Problem

• Published in 2019
In the collections
The muffin problem asks us to divide $m$ muffins into pieces and assign each of those pieces to one of $s$ students so that the sizes of the pieces assigned to each student total $m/s$, with the objective being to maximize the size of the smallest piece in the solution. We present a recursive algorithm for solving any muffin problem and demonstrate that it always produces an optimal solution.

## Other information

key
AnOptimalSolutionfortheMuffinProblem
type
article
2020-08-17
date_published
2019-02-02

### BibTeX entry

@article{AnOptimalSolutionfortheMuffinProblem,
key = {AnOptimalSolutionfortheMuffinProblem},
type = {article},
title = {An Optimal Solution for the Muffin Problem},
author = {Richard E. Chatwin},
abstract = {The muffin problem asks us to divide {\$}m{\$} muffins into pieces and assign each
of those pieces to one of {\$}s{\$} students so that the sizes of the pieces assigned
to each student total {\$}m/s{\$}, with the objective being to maximize the size of
the smallest piece in the solution. We present a recursive algorithm for
solving any muffin problem and demonstrate that it always produces an optimal
solution.},
comment = {},
}