Pancake Sorting Algorithm

Pancake sorting is the mathematical problem of sorting a disordered stack of pancakes into order of size using a spatula that can be inserted at any point in the stack to flip every pancake above it, with the pancake number defined as the minimum number of flips required for a given number of pancakes; the problem was first discussed in this form by the American geometer Jacob Goodman. Where the traditional sorting problem seeks to minimize the number of comparisons required, pancake sorting instead seeks to minimize the number of flip operations, since only reversals of a prefix of the sequence are allowed and the number of comparisons made is irrelevant.