The small pizza is not almost as big as the large.

Planet Pizza in Fairfield CT offers a large pizza which is 16″ and a 14″ small pizza.

http://www.planetpizza.com/pdf/PlanetPizza_Fairfield.pdf

(Note these measurements refer to the diameter of the pizza, or the length of a straight line beginning and ending on the outer edge of the crust, and passing through the center of the pie.)

At face value, a 14″ pie may seem almost as big as a 16″. It’s only 2 inches difference, right? Well, let’s take a closer look.

Using the formula for area of a circle, Aarea = pi x radius2 (radius being half of the diameter) we get the following:

A(small) = 3.14 x 72 = 153.86 square inches of pizza

A(large) = 3.14 x 82 = 200.96 square inches of pizza

So a small pie is only about 76% the size of a large. Quite a significant difference in my opinion, and one that most people would probably not consider almost the same.

Another thing to consider is how much more crust you’re getting with a large pie than you would with a small. We don’t actually witness Jeff eat the crust of his slice, so we have no data to work with there, but we have to assume Nellie is not a crust eater, so let’s work under the assumption that the crust will be discarded, meaning we’re only really concerned with the cheesy saucy part of the pie. Well a large pie will have 2 inches more crust than a small, right? Wrong. To calculate the circumference of the pie, or the distance around the outer edge of the crust, we use the formula C = pi x diameter.

C(small) = 3.14 x 14 = 43.96 inches of crust

C(large) = 3.14 x 16 = 50.24 inches of crust

A difference of 6.28 inches. No small amount, at least according to my ex. But how much is this really? How much actual cheesy saucy goodness is Jeff getting in each pie? Say for the sake of argument that the crust is 1 inch wide. Let’s cut away the 1 inch crust by calculating the area of a pie with a diameter 2 inches smaller than the original areas we calculated above, which is equivalent to a radius 1 inch smaller. We will denote this amount with CSG below (cheesy saucy goodness).

CSG(small) = 3.14 x 62 = 113.04 square inches of cheesy goodness

CSG(large) = 3.14 x 72 = 153.86 square inches of cheesy goodness

In conclusion, the CSG rating for a small pie is only 73% that of a large pie. By purchasing a large pie instead of a small, Jeff was able to present Nervous Nellie with 27% more, or 40.82 extra square inches of cheesy goodness, not including the crust. It’s no mystery why he felt there was enough to offer Chris a slice. However, I do still take issue with his assertion that the small pie was “almost as big” as the large. Mathematically speaking, there is quite a significant difference.