In problems of fair division

Fair division

Fair division, also known as the cake-cutting problem, is the problem of dividing a resource in such a way that all recipients believe that they have received a fair amount...

, a resource (prototypically a cake

Cake

Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...

) is to be divided amongst a finite number of players; the resource is assumed to be desirable, and more is assumed to be better. Chore division is the "dual" problem of allocating an undesirable resource (the prototype is the allocation of household chores).

Many allocation schemes from conventional fair division problems (such as I cut, you choose) give an equally acceptable result when applied to chore division; some (especially moving-knife procedure

Moving-knife procedure

In the mathematics of social science, and especially game theory, a moving-knife procedure is a type of solution to the fair division problem. The canonical example is the division of a cake using a knife....

s) may easily be modified to apply to chore division.

Chore division is also called the dirty work problem.