Learn About Fair Division
Fair division means dividing resources in a way that's provably fair for everyone involved. Since Hugo Steinhaus first described the “cake cutting” problem in 1944, researchers in Economics, Mathematics, and Computer Science have developed hundreds of methods for mathematically fair sharing.
Most of these methods are math theories but a few are quite useful for everyday things as well. For example, settling inheritance disputes, deciding fair rent between roommates, or splitting up chores. Some methods are even used to settle resource disputes between countries!
Should I be using these methods?
Maybe! Here are a few tools that use fair division methods:
- New York Times's Divide Your Rent Fairly
- This website's Resource Splitting Tool for divisible resources like cakes, time spans, physical space.
In everyday activities, it's probably best to talk things through and reach a mutual agreement with others. Fair division methods are most suited for situations where people can't agree but we still want everyone gets a fair share.
If you are curious to learn the logic behind provably fair solutions, I've developed a fun, interactive course. You'll get to explore the famous cake cutting problem, which is the heart of the fair division field. Please check it out!
Enter Player 3
Here we have another cake.
But we need to split it among 3 people this time.
Aki
Bruno
ChloeHere's how they value the flavors:
One simple way to split the cake is in thirds like this.
which includes a part he doesn't value much.
Here's how they value their portions:
- Aki's piece is worth 1⁄3 of the cake to her.
- Bruno's piece is worth 1⁄3 of the cake to him.
- Chloe's piece is worth over 1⁄2 of the cake to her, lucky!
This solution is proportionally fair because everyone gets at least 1⁄3 of the cake's value.
However, this solution doesn't seem fair to Bruno. From his perspective, Aki's all-vanilla piece is worth much more than his own.
He envies her share and feels cheated.
