All Questions
Tagged with packing-and-covering discrete-geometry
70 questions
99
votes
7
answers
20k
views
Can we cover the unit square by these rectangles?
The following question was a research exercise (i.e. an open problem) in R. Graham, D.E. Knuth, and O. Patashnik, "Concrete Mathematics", 1988, chapter 1.
It is easy to show that
$$\sum_{1 \...
- 5,502
35
votes
3
answers
2k
views
The kissing number of a square, cube, hypercube?
How many nonoverlapping unit squares can (nonoverlappingly) touch one unit square?
By "nonoverlapping" I mean: not sharing an interior point.
By "touch" I mean: sharing a boundary point.
&...
- 151k
27
votes
2
answers
891
views
Careless packing
The sequence $\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2\cdot 2}, \frac{1}{3\cdot 4}, \frac{1}{4\cdot 6}, \frac{1}{5\cdot 8}, \frac{1}{6\cdot 10},\ldots$ has a curious property, as follows:
a) the series with these ...
- 17.6k
26
votes
0
answers
359
views
Can 4-space be partitioned into Klein bottles?
It is known that $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be partitioned into disjoint circles,
or into disjoint unit circles, or into congruent copies of a real-analytic curve
(Is it possible to partition $\mathbb R^3$ ...
- 151k
22
votes
1
answer
886
views
Happy ants never leave compact domain?
I am curious if the following seemingly simple question has an easy answer?
Consider an ant population of $N$ ants that lives in $\mathbb R^2$. Each ant can be labeled by some coordinate $x\in \mathbb ...
- 124
20
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How many unit squares can you pack into a rectangle with nearly integer side lengths?
Earlier today, somebody asked what looks like a homework problem, but admits the following reading which I think is interesting:
Suppose $a_1,\dots, a_n$ are positive integers, and $\varepsilon$ is ...
16
votes
5
answers
712
views
The smallest disk containing all sides of an $n$-gon
Start with a regular $n$-gon of side 1 and consider its sides as open segments that can be moved around in the plane, allowing only translations. Two segments may not intersect.
What is the radius ...
- 13.4k
13
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Packing obtuse vectors in $\mathbb{R}^d$
I came across this attractive theorem:
Theorem. In $\mathbb{R}^d$, there can be at most $d+1$ vectors that
form an obtuse angle with one another.
This was proved1 as a corollary of a lemma about ...
- 151k
13
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How many vertices/edges/faces at most for a convex polyhedron that tiles space?
I wonder if this problem has already been examined before:
Consider a convex polyhedron that tiles $\mathbb R^3$. What is the maximum of vertices/edges/faces that such a polyhedron can have?
...
- 13.4k
13
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Average degree of contact graph for balls in a box
Imagine you dump congruent, hard, frictionless balls in a box,
letting gravity compress the balls into a stable configuration
(I believe such configurations are called
jammed.)
Assume the box ...
- 151k
11
votes
2
answers
455
views
Dodecahedral rolling distance
Let a dodecahedron sit on the plane,
with one face's vertices on an origin-centered unit circle.
Fix the orientation so that the edge whose indices are $(1,2)$ is horizontal.
For any $p \in \mathbb{R}...
- 151k
11
votes
1
answer
403
views
Smallest sphere containing three tetrahedra?
What is the smallest possible radius of a sphere which contains 3 identical plastic tetrahedra with side length 1?
- 111
10
votes
0
answers
493
views
Rectangology and squareology
I thought that rectangles were simple, and squares even simpler. Until my research has led me to several questions about rectangles and squares, which I can't solve.
I started by posting this question ...
- 3,549
9
votes
3
answers
525
views
Mutually tangent ellipsoids in 3 space
I recently heard a claim that for any n, it is possible to arrange n ellipsoids in 3 space such that each pair of ellipsoids is kissing. Is this true, and if so, how?
Edit: By kissing, I mean that I ...
- 1,601
9
votes
2
answers
470
views
Density of a saturated random packing of congruent circles
The problem of the expected density of a saturated random packing of unit circles in the plane can be described as follows.
In a circular region $C$ of a large radius pick a point at random and draw ...
- 7,276
9
votes
1
answer
274
views
Integer sets with forbidden differences
Given a finite set $S$ of positive integers, and a positive integer $n$, let $F(n,S)$ be the largest possible cardinality of a subset of {$1,2,\dots,n$} no two of whose elements differ by a number in $...
- 19.7k
9
votes
1
answer
666
views
Triangle (constrained number, rather than shape) packing?
Are there any interesting results on optimal packings in the plane using a fixed number of triangles (without a fixed size or shape constraint)?
For instance, what's the maximum area packing of the ...
- 430
9
votes
0
answers
249
views
Randomly placing nonoverlapping unit cuboids
Suppose one places unit cuboids of dimension $d$ with min-corners
uniformly distributed to lie in $[0,n]^d$, but with cuboid (strict) overlap forbidden.
At some point, the region is "saturated," ...
- 151k
8
votes
0
answers
149
views
Do the $\ell^{\infty}$ and $\ell^1$ norms yield minimal doubling constants amongst all norms on $\mathbb{R}^n$?
Setting:
Let $X:=\mathbb{R}^n$ for some positive integer $n$. For each $1\le p\le \infty$ let $d_p$ denote the metric induced by the $\ell^p_n$ norm thereon.
Note that, the doubling constant of a ...
- 5,405
7
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Elementary precise estimate of the covering number of euclidean balls by hypercubes
I am looking for a straightforward way to upper bound the covering number of a $d$-dimensional euclidean ball by $\ell_\infty$-balls of radius $\varepsilon$, which I will call cubes of sidelength $2\...
- 172
7
votes
1
answer
117
views
Packing points in a lattice
Let $L$ be the square or triangular lattice in the plane, with nearest neighbors having distance 1. Has anyone studied the problem of finding the maximum (okay, supremum) density achieved by a subset ...
- 19.7k
7
votes
0
answers
44
views
Inefficient covering by translates
While trying to answer this question, I arrived at another question:
How many translates of $\{0,1\}^n$ does it take to cover $\mathbb F_3^n$?
The broader context is: consider a set $S$ and a ...
- 23.2k
6
votes
1
answer
413
views
How many unit cubes are needed to 'hide' a unit cube fully in 3D?
Question: What is the smallest number of nonoverlapping unit cubes that can hide a unit cube C - in the sense that every ray emanating from the boundary of C meets the interior or the boundary of one ...
- 5,979
6
votes
0
answers
1k
views
How to pack 27 $a\times b\times c$ blocks into a cube of side $a+b+c$ with some kind of symmetry?
Recently I stumbled on the problem quoted here about a geometric proof of the AM-GM inequality $$(a_1+\cdots+a_n)^n\ge n^n a_1\cdots a_n$$ by packing $n^n$ rectangular $ n$-dimensional boxes of sides $...
- 13.4k
5
votes
1
answer
269
views
Is the maximal packing density of identical circles in a circle always an algebraic number?
There is a lot of interest in the maximal density of equal circle packing in a circle. And I thought that knowing whether or not the solution is always algebraic or not would be useful.
My original ...
- 53
5
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Optimal packing of spheres tangent to a central sphere
Please consider a central, ordinary 2-sphere $S_1$, of some radius $r_1$, and a second ordinary sphere, $S_2$, of radius $r_2$, where $r_2 \leq r_1$.
My question concerns optimal values for the ...
5
votes
1
answer
547
views
Cover of a n-simplex with balls
Consider a n-simplex. For each edge (i,j), consider a n-ball, such that vertices i and j are antipodal on this ball. Is the simplex covered by the union of these balls? Thank you.
- 195
5
votes
1
answer
230
views
Which pyramids fill space?
Let us define a pyramid as a convex polyhedron with one quadrilateral face and four triangular faces.
Question: How many pyramids (or families of pyramids) are known that can fill 3D space without ...
- 5,979
5
votes
1
answer
114
views
Packing in uniform domains
Given $N$ points $X:=(x_i)_{i \in \{1,..,N\}}$, we now define a score function $S:X \rightarrow \mathbb{N}$ that is $S(X)= \sum_{i=1}^N S(x_i)$ where the score of $S(x_i)$ is
$$S(x_i) = 2* \vert \{x_j;...
- 536
5
votes
0
answers
313
views
Trade-off between covering number, ball radius and diameter of $d$-dimensional shapes
Given any $d$-dimensional shape $X$ in the Euclidean space, let $\ell(X)$ be the length of the longest line segment connecting two points of $X$. How can we prove the following statement?
There exists ...
- 1,677
5
votes
0
answers
199
views
Existence of a honeycomb composed by nearly-hyperspherical $d$-dimensional cells having the same shape and size
Let $\mathcal{H}$ the class of all honeycombs composed by $d$-dimensional cells $C$ having all the same shape and size in a $d$-dimensional space $\mathcal{S}$.
Let $s(C)$ and $\ell(C)$ be ...
- 1,677
4
votes
7
answers
2k
views
How to generate a net on a 8-dimensional sphere
Using Matlab, how to generate a net of 3^10 points that are evenly located (or distributed) on the 8-dimensional unit sphere?
Thanks for any helpful answers!
- 173
4
votes
2
answers
312
views
Which convex pentagon gives least packing density?
Among all convex pentagons, does the regular pentagon give least packing density?
Further question: For each $n > 6$, is the regular $n$-gon the minimum of packing density?
An analogous question ...
- 5,979
4
votes
1
answer
243
views
Does there exist a scale invariant random packing of circles in the plane?
I want to construct a scale invariant random packing of the plane with circles.
Here is a way to construct a rotationally invariant, but not scale invariant random packing of the plane with circles:
...
- 1,054
4
votes
0
answers
144
views
Approximation of a convex shape in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space for $d\gg 1$
We are given a convex shape $C$ lying inside the hypercube $[0,1]^d$ in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space. Let the volume of $C$ be $\tfrac12$ (I guess nothing changes for any other fixed constant ...
- 1,677
3
votes
1
answer
305
views
Is this cube packing possible?
I know how to pack $5$ unit squares in a square of side length $2+\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$. Is there an $\varepsilon>0$ such that there exists a packing of $9$ unit cubes in a cube of side length $3-\...
- 7,633
3
votes
2
answers
551
views
Torus in $\mathcal{R}^3$
Hi
I'm interested in packing the 3 space as dense as possible using equally sized tori whose major radius is much bigger than their minor radius in.
Do you have any idea how to attack this problem?
...
- 239
3
votes
1
answer
177
views
On the thinnest cover of the plane by a given planar convex region
Is the following claim valid?
Claim: Given any planar convex region C, the thinnest cover of the plane with copies of C cannot have any region where more than 2 copies overlap. In general, the ...
- 5,979
3
votes
1
answer
171
views
Covering radius of a lattice from relevant vectors
Let $L$ be an $n-$dimensional lattice. The Voronoi region of $L$ is given by
$$
\mathcal{V}(L)=\big\{x\in\mathbb{R}^n~|~ \|x\|_2\leq \|x-v\|_2~\forall v\in L\setminus\{0\}\big\}.
$$
Considering the ...
- 33
3
votes
1
answer
186
views
packing with special sets in high dimensional Euclidean space
Let $\lambda$ be Lebesgue measure on $[0,1]$. For $\mathbf{x}=(x_1,x_2,..,x_k)\in[0,1]^k$, define $$A(\mathbf{x}):=\{(y_1,\dots,y_k)\in [0,1]^k: \text{there exist intervals }I_1,\dots,I_k \text{ in }[...
- 75
3
votes
0
answers
134
views
Two questions on counterexamples to Borsuk's conjecture and ball-packings
In 1933 Karol Borsuk conjectured the following
Can every bounded subset $E$ of $\mathbb{R}^d$ be partitioned into $(d+1)$ sets, each of which has a smaller diameter than $E$?
Whilst new to this ...
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
184
views
Fitting $\frac1n\times\frac1{n+1}$ rectangles into the unit square [duplicate]
Consider the set of rectangles $r_n | n \in \Bbb N$ such that rectangle $r_n$ has shape $\frac1n\times\frac1{n+1}$. The total area composed by one copy of each $r_n$ as $n$ ranges from $1$ to ...
- 1,247
2
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Best fit for multiple shapes inside an area
Is there a forumla to come up with the best fit for multiple shapes inside a rectangular area, so that none of the shapes are overlapping?
- 121
2
votes
4
answers
426
views
Can we almost cover any shape in the plane by disjoint/tangent disks of prescribed radii?
This is a cross-post.
Let $(a_n)_{n \in \mathbb{Z}}$ be some given, strictly increasing sequence of positive numbers, such that $\lim_{n \to -\infty} a_n=0,\lim_{n \to +\infty} a_n=+\infty$.
Let $\...
- 6,741
2
votes
1
answer
164
views
Packing densities of non-centrally symmetric planar convex regions
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoothed_octagon
Background: The smoothed octagon is conjectured to have the lowest maximum packing density of the plane of all centrally symmetric convex ...
- 5,979
2
votes
2
answers
279
views
Combinatorial optimization problem with interdependent constraints on points in $[0,1]$
We are given a set $S$ of $n$ real numbers in $[0,1]$, with $0,1\in S$, and a value $\alpha\in(0,1/2)$. For each ordered triplet $(i,j,k)$ of values contained in $S$ (with $i\le j \le k$), we define ...
- 1,677
2
votes
1
answer
105
views
The problem of finding the smallest number of copies of a certain shape that can be placed into a space to make fitting another copy impossible
Packing problems often ask for the largest number of some identical shape that can fit in a given space without overlapping, if they are placed optimally.
I'm interested in the opposite question:
Q. ...
- 121
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Sphere packing in a sphere
Let $S_a^d$ be the $(d-1)$-dimensional sphere of radius $a$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Let $r>0$ be a constant and $R=\nu r$ where $\nu>1$ (some constant). Are there any known upper bounds on the number ...
- 3,217
2
votes
1
answer
151
views
On rigid packings of the plane with a constraint
This post continues Thinnest rigid packings of the plane
A packing of the plane with copies of any shape is called rigid (or "stable") if every unit is fixed by its neighbors, i.e., no unit ...
- 5,979
2
votes
0
answers
84
views
Another variant of the Malfatti problem
We try to add to A Variant of the Malfatti Problem
As stated in the Wikipedia entry on Malfatti circles, it is an open problem to decide, given a number $n$ and any triangle, whether a greedy method ...
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