The Truth About Pizza Sizes: Are You Wasting Money?

Stop Ordering the Wrong Pizza! The Math Behind the Best Deal

Pizza—whether you call it pie, za, or just the greatest food ever—has been fueling parties, study sessions, and midnight cravings for centuries. But there’s one question that haunts every pizza order: How many should we get? And more importantly, what size is the best deal?

Two mediums? One large? A bunch of personals? The struggle is real. You’d think ordering a large pizza is the obvious choice, but what if I told you that you might be getting ripped off without even realizing it? That’s right—there’s a pizza size conspiracy happening right under our noses.

Welcome to the ultimate breakdown of pizza sizes, prices, and the psychology behind how we eat pizza. By the time you finish reading, you’ll never look at a pizza order the same way again.

The Math Behind the Madness: Medium vs. Large

Let’s start with the basics: pizza is a circle (duh), and the size of that circle determines how much food you’re actually getting. Most big pizza chains—Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s—offer standard medium and large pizzas:

• Medium pizza: 12 inches in diameter
• Large pizza: 14 inches in diameter

At first glance, that extra 2 inches might not seem like a big deal. But here’s where your brain gets tricked: pizza sizes don’t increase linearly, they increase exponentially.

Using the formula for the area of a circle (π × radius²), let’s do the math:

• Medium pizza (12-inch diameter, 6-inch radius):
  • π × (6²) = 113.1 square inches of pizza
• Large pizza (14-inch diameter, 7-inch radius):
  • π × (7²) = 153.9 square inches of pizza

That’s a 40.8 square inch difference between a medium and a large. To put that in perspective, a large pizza is almost 36% bigger than a medium pizza! That means ordering one large instead of two mediums gives you more pizza for less money.

But What About Price?

Of course, it’s not just about size—we gotta talk money. We crunched the numbers on pizza prices across different cities, and here’s what we found:

• Domino’s Large Pizza: ~$11.99 (153.9 sq inches)
• Domino’s Medium Pizza: ~$9.99 (113.1 sq inches)

That means:

• A large pizza gives you 12.8 square inches per dollar
• A medium pizza gives you only 11.3 square inches per dollar

Long story short? Large pizzas give you more food per dollar spent.

How Psychology Tricks You into Eating More

But hold up—it’s not just about the numbers. There’s a psychological factor that messes with how we eat pizza, and it’s called unit bias.

Unit bias is the idea that people tend to consume a full unit of something, no matter how big or small it is. That means when you’re eating a medium pizza, your brain sees a slice as a whole serving, even if it’s smaller than a slice from a large pizza.

What Does This Mean?

• If you serve people medium pizzas, they’re more likely to eat 5 slices instead of 4.
• If you serve people large pizzas, they usually stop at 4 slices because the slices are bigger.

So not only do large pizzas give you more food, but they also help control portion sizes better than medium pizzas.

The "Papa John’s Problem": The Hidden Pizza Scam

Now, if you thought we were done exposing pizza conspiracies, think again. Because we need to talk about Papa John’s and their shady pizza sizes.

While Domino’s and Pizza Hut stick to their advertised 12-inch mediums and 14-inch larges, Papa John’s has been caught serving smaller pizzas than advertised.

We measured their "14-inch" large pizza, and guess what? It was only 13 inches.

That might not seem like a big deal, but when you calculate the area, that shrinkage costs you about 20 square inches of pizza—aka an entire extra slice you should be getting but aren’t.

And it gets worse. Papa John’s also has more crust per pizza than its competitors. While Domino’s crust only makes up 27% of the pizza, Papa John’s crust takes up 40%.

That means:

• You’re paying more for a pizza that’s actually smaller
• A bigger portion of your pizza is just crust, not the good stuff like cheese and toppings

If you’re a crust fiend, maybe that’s fine—but for the rest of us? That’s a scam.

The Final Verdict: What Should You Order?

After all this math, psychology, and scandal, the answer is pretty clear:

✅ For gatherings and parties: Always go with large pizzas. You get more pizza per dollar, and people tend to eat more manageable portions.
✅ For solo meals: A medium pizza or a small (if available) is fine, but never order two mediums instead of one large—it’s a waste of money.
✅ Avoid Papa John’s if you care about value. Their pizzas are smaller than advertised and have too much crust for the price.

The Pizza Ordering Hack You’ll Never Forget

So there you have it—the pizza size conspiracy has been exposed! Next time you’re about to hit that order button, don’t let your brain (or sneaky marketing tricks) fool you. The math is clear: one large pizza beats two mediums every single time. Not only do you get more food for your money, but you also avoid falling victim to the unit bias that makes us eat way more than we need. And as for Papa John’s? Well… let’s just say we’re side-eyeing their so-called "large" pizzas from now on.

Whether you’re hosting a party, binge-watching your favorite show, or just indulging in some well-deserved self-care with a whole pie to yourself (no judgment), order smart, eat smarter, and never let the pizza industry trick you again.

Stay hungry for more food mysteries at Woke Waves Magazine! 🍕🔥

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