Which pizza size is the best deal?
A 16-inch pizza has 4× the area of an 8-inch pizza, not 2× — because area = π × r². This means larger pizzas are almost always the better value per square inch. A 12-inch pizza (113 sq in) is actually 1.78× bigger than a 10-inch (78 sq in), despite only being 2 inches wider. A 16-inch pizza (201 sq in) has 78% more pizza than a 12-inch. If a 12-inch costs $12 and a 16-inch costs $16, the large pizza gives you 78% more food for only 33% more money. This mathematical reality means you should almost always buy the largest pizza — the cost per square inch decreases as size increases.