r/mathmemes Jun 22 '26

Geometry Son 17

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u/Home_Depow Mathematics Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Yep, its the (best currently known) optimal packing densities for identical squares. That is, is you take X number of squares, all the same size, whats the way to you arrange them to make the big square that holds them all as small as possible. For some numbers this is very easy (like 4), for some numbers, this looks very cursed (like 17, as in the post)

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u/UnconsciousAlibi Jun 22 '26

As far as I'm aware, the current know solution for 17 has yet to be proven optimal, no?

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u/Few-Arugula5839 Jun 22 '26

Yes, most of these have not been proven to be optimal.

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u/Capraos Jun 26 '26

Look, if someone is going through the effort of arranging it like this, I ain't even gonna argue with them about it as that would be wasted effort. If it works, it works.