Shefford school maths experts help find formula for the perfect roast potato

A-level maths students from the Samuel Whitbread Academy in Shefford featured on the ITV news last week, in a story about finding the formula for the perfect roast potato.
The perfect roastieThe perfect roastie
The perfect roastie

Together with Edge Hotel School, from Essex University, students were trying to find a new way to cut a potato to maximise the surface area-to-volume ratio by cutting the potato at an angle, rather than into quarters.

The Year 13 maths students worked out the formula for the perfect roast potato to involve slicing the potato at a 30-degree angle, increasing the potato’s surface area by up 65 per cent.

In taste tests with the public and professional chefs, the new-style potatoes scored higher on taste, appearance, crunch and flavour.

The students’ discovery was picked up by national newspapers including The Times, The Sun the Daily Mail and The Independent.

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