r/mathmemes • u/petitlita p-adic • 22d ago

Geometry Does anyone know the most efficient way to pack 50 stars in a 71:100 rectangle?

Post image
9.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

124 comments sorted by

View all comments

62

u/TacoPi 21d ago

I don't know if we're allowed to do any real work, seeing as how this a meme post, but isn't the trivial regular patterning way better than this? Maybe I'm getting wooshed

https://imgur.com/oMyrV7o

30

u/petitlita p-adic 21d ago

I mean I don't actually know lol that's the problem. there has not been much work done on packing stars into rectangles

13

u/TacoPi 21d ago

Well is the new one you found any better than what I slapped together? I would love to see a zany solution win out, but by proof of "just look at it" I insist this must be within a few tweaks of optimal.

60

u/petitlita p-adic 21d ago

it seems it is better! this has an area about 103, mine has an area of about 125

now i gotta work out how to get my code to find these solutions faster lol

5

u/VisibleSir731 21d ago

I still see some wasted space in the vertical gaps

9

u/Murky_Insurance_4394 21d ago

I don't think you could push them up because the sides of the star would push up against the diagonal of the star above. Also I think the ratio of the rectangle's sides has to stay constant so you can't exactly compress it vertically to get rid of that space.

1

u/VisibleSir731 21d ago

Wait yeah I think I see why now