How can you expect 3 (minutes) when each pancakes need one minute for each side ? Or maybe you prefer semi cooked pancakes?... or i didn't understand something ?

400 people have solved this. It's supposed to be tricky, you need to think outside the box.

This cannot be right. I've even had friends double-check my logic, and they all agree that my code should work, and that whoever wrote the problem was incorrect.
imo I think the person who made this needs to take it down and fix it.

why would you ever have empty space in the pan?

yeah that's what I'm saying. but if you have more time spent than the minimal, then that is what's going on. unless you're burning them that is.

the task was written by a person who does not know how to write them, just guess what the person was thinking when he wrote it