How to Divide a Cake Into 8 Equal Pieces With Just 3 Cuts?

Solving brainteasers is one of the best ways to keep your mind fresh and may just help you see problems from a fresh perspective.

Brainteaser fans were left scratching their heads after a魔鬼般小的难题 left social media users baffled.

But fear not, because we've got the answer - and it's a piece of cake.

The conundrum was posted on Instagram's Threads by user @ellis_puzzles, who asked a seemingly simple question: how do you divide a cake into eight equal piece?

Surely, it sounds like a piece of cake at first - but there's a twist in that you're only allowed to do it in three slices.

The full post reads: "Only puzzle champion with math and geometry knowledge can answer this question.

"There are 7 people at your birthday party. How can you divide a round cake for 8 people (including you) making only 3 cuts?"

This devilish little dilemma caused a stir among social media users with various solutions flying around across 80 comments.

One user, nunocastelobranco, said: "3 vertical cuts, one radial cut, and then two diameter cuts in 2 opposite directions."

Not to be outdone, illio_ja offered an alternative with: "1. Split in half, so you have 2 thinner cake, stack it together and cut it 2 times with + or × shape".

Elsewhere, servagi1990 chimed in with another solution: "1 cut from the side through the middle, then 2 cuts from the top. 1 vertical through the middle and 1 horizontal through the middle".

While user winstonsmith2112 said: "Slice the cake horizontally, making two layers, then make the following two cuts vertically. Four people get cuts from the top of the cake, and four people get cuts from the bottom of the cake

"Too easy."

Did you manage to solve it? Regardless of whether you cracked it or not, tackling regular brainteasers like this is a fantastic way to flex your creative thinking muscles.

Aaron Seitz, PhD., professor of psychology and director of the Brain Game Centre at the University of California in Riverside told Real Simple: "Studies show that staying mentally fit is important for long-term cognitive health, but the difficulty is figuring out exactly how to do it.”

He also added that some games work differently for different people and finding your own challenge is probably the best thing to do and, "if you think about diet and exercise routines, some things work better for some people than others, and the same is true with brain games."