- Circle packing in a square
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Circle packing in a square is a packing problem in recreational mathematics, where the aim is to pack n unit circles into the smallest possible square; or, equivalently, to arrange n points in a unit square for the greatest minimal separation, dn, between points.[1] To convert between these two formulations of the problem, the square side for unit circles will be .
Optimal solutions have been proven for N≤30. Solutions up to N=20 are shown below.[2]:
Number of circles Square size dn[1] Figure 1 2 2
≈ 3.414...
≈ 1.414...3
≈ 3.931...
≈ 1.035...4 4 1 5
≈ 4.828...
≈ 0.707...6
≈ 5.328...
≈ 0.601...7
≈ 5.732...
≈ 0.536...8
≈ 5.863...
≈ 0.518...9 6 0.5 10 6.747... 0.421... 11 7.022... 0.398... 12
≈ 7.144...0.389... 13 7.463... 0.366... 14
≈ 7.732...0.348... 15
≈ 7.863...0.341... 16 8 0.333... 17 8.532... 0.306... 18
≈ 8.656...0.300... 19 8.907... 0.290... 20
≈ 8.978...0.287... References
- ^ a b Croft, Hallard T.; Falconer, Kenneth J.; Guy, Richard K. (1991). Unsolved Problems in Geometry. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 108–110. ISBN 0-387-97506-3.
- ^ Eckard Specht (20 May 2010). "The best known packings of equal circles in a square". http://hydra.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/packing/csq/csq.html. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
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