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Questions tagged [packing-problem]

Questions on the packing of various (two- or three-dimensional) geometric objects.

7 votes
0 answers
130 views

For what values of $n$ can coins of radius $\frac12,\frac13,\frac14,...,\frac1n$ be held rigidly in a circular tray of radius $1$?

For what values of $n$ can circular coins of radius $\frac12,\frac13,\frac14,...,\frac1n$ (at least one of each, and no other kind of coin) be held rigidly in a circular tray of radius $1$? By "...
Dan's user avatar
  • 25.3k
52 votes
3 answers
4k views

Geometry question about a six-pack of beer

On a hot summer day like today, I like to put a six-pack of beer in my cooler and enjoy some cold ones outdoors. My cooler is in the shape of a cylinder. When I place the six-pack in the cooler ...
Dan's user avatar
  • 25.3k
12 votes
3 answers
744 views

Sangaku problem involving eight circles

I made the following sangaku problem. $\dfrac{\text{Area of the orange circle}}{\text{Area of a blue circle}}=\space ?$ Description of diagram. In this question, circles of the same color are ...
Dan's user avatar
  • 25.3k
1 vote
1 answer
34 views

Packing a sphere of each integer volume at most $N$ in $\mathbb R^3$ - Does the marginal radius ever approach zero?

Given $N \in \mathbb N$, let $S_i$ denote the sphere of volume $i$ for $i \in \{1, \cdots, N\}$. Now define $r \in \mathbb R$ as the minimal radius so that you can pack all of the spheres into a ...
Snared's user avatar
  • 972
1 vote
0 answers
41 views

What is the maximum number of (non-overlapping) small squares that fit inside a larger square? And similar question for cubes.

I am having a hard time answering the following questions, despite them seeming elementary at first glance. Is it true that the maximum number of (non-overlapping) squares with side lengths $x$ cm ...
Adam Rubinson's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
36 views

Recognize geometric pattern in natural form

UPDATED Although my question arises from biology, it’s about geometry. I’m interested in various natural structures: fractals, packing, hyperuniformity etc. Here is photo of pores of tinder fungus or ...
lesobrod's user avatar
  • 794
4 votes
1 answer
236 views

Combinatorial rectangle packing problem

Take the numbers 1, 2, and 3, and make a list of all possible unordered pairs (ie {1,1}, {1,2}, {1,3}, {2,2}, {2,3} and {3,3}). Interpreting these as the dimensions of rectangles, you get 6 rectangles ...
Elliott Price's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
56 views

Can ellipsoids pack better than spheres?

It is known that same-sized spheres can be packed at a density of $\pi/3\surd2$. If we uniformly stretch or compress the packed configuration as a whole, in any direction, the packing density does not ...
John Bentin's user avatar
  • 18.9k
3 votes
0 answers
64 views

Is there a collection of disks that can't cover a unit disk, but can cover every ring centered at the origin with multiplicity?

Say that a region $R$ is covered with multiplicity by some pieces $P_1,\ldots,P_n$ if $\sum_{i=1}^n\text{Area}(P_i\cap R)\ge \text{Area}(R)$ - ie, there's enough total overlap of $R$, it just isn't ...
RavenclawPrefect's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
54 views

What is the minimum excess area when covering a unit square with $n$ circles?

Suppose you have a unit square and want to completely cover it with $1$ circle ($n=1$). If you want to minimize the excess area, the area inside of the circle and outside of the square, you would ...
Dylan Levine's user avatar
  • 1,686
1 vote
2 answers
59 views

Optimal "maze length" in plane tilings

Among the tesselations of the plane (the tiles employed are a finite number of shapes which are allowed to be translated and rotated at will), which one performs best at the following problem? To ...
5th decile's user avatar
  • 2,455
12 votes
2 answers
653 views

Placing kings on a 6x6 board - who wins?

Two players alternate placing kings on a $6\times6$ chessboard, such that no two kings are allowed to attack each other (not even two kings placed by the same player). The last person who can place a ...
Akiva Weinberger's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
132 views

Circle packing in a circle

In this circle packing problem, the task is to determine the smallest circle for a given number of unit circles. However, in the case of $n=15$, it is not clear to me how the $$\ 1+ \sqrt{6+ {2\over \...
LorKris0128's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
56 views

How to optimally pack random triangles with fixed perimeter

You have a machine that produces random triangles of perimeter $1$ in the following way. On a stick of length $1$, the machine chooses two independent uniformly random points. If breaking the stick at ...
Dan's user avatar
  • 25.3k
1 vote
1 answer
61 views

For any $2-$d shape, can (at least) half its area be filled up with finitely many disjoint discs of the same size?

Here, the notation $B(x,r)$ means the ball with centre $x$ and radius $r$. So in $\mathbb{R}$ this represents an interval, in $\mathbb{R}^2,$ this represents a disc, etc. Whether the ball is open or ...
Adam Rubinson's user avatar

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