Circle packing in a circle
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Circle packing in a circle is a two-dimensional packing problem with the objective of packing unit circles into the smallest possible larger circle.
If more than one optimal solution exists, all are shown.[1]
| Enclosing circle radius |
Density |
Optimality | Layout(s) of the circles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1.0 | Trivially optimal. | |
| 2 | 2 | 0.5 | Trivially optimal. | |
| 3 | 2.155... |
0.6461... | Trivially optimal. | |
| 4 | 2.414... |
0.6864... | Trivially optimal. | |
| 5 | 2.701... |
0.6854... | Proved optimal by Graham (1968)[2] |
|
| 6 | 3 | 0.6666... | Proved optimal by Graham (1968)[2] |
|
| 7 | 3 | 0.7777... | Trivially optimal. | |
| 8 | 3.304... |
0.7328... | Proved optimal by Pirl (1969)[3] |
|
| 9 | 3.613... |
0.6895... | Proved optimal by Pirl (1969)[3] |
|
| 10 | 3.813... | 0.6878... | Proved optimal by Pirl (1969)[3] |
|
| 11 | 3.923... |
0.7148... | Proved optimal by Melissen (1994)[4] |
|
| 12 | 4.029... | 0.7392... | Proved optimal by Fodor (2000)[5] |
|
| 13 | 4.236... |
0.7245... | Proved optimal by Fodor (2003)[6] |
|
| 14 | 4.328... | 0.7474... | Proved optimal by Ekanayake and LaFountain (2024).[7] |
|
| 15 | 4.521... |
0.7339... | Conjectured optimal by Pirl (1969).[8] |
|
| 16 | 4.615... | 0.7512... | Conjectured optimal by Goldberg (1971).[8] |
|
| 17 | 4.792... | 0.7403... | Conjectured optimal by Reis (1975).[8] |
|
| 18 | 4.863... |
0.7609... | Conjectured optimal by Pirl (1969), with additional arrangements by Graham, Lubachevsky, Nurmela, and Östergård (1998).[8] |
|
| 19 | 4.863... |
0.8032... | Proved optimal by Fodor (1999)[9] |
|
| 20 | 5.122... | 0.7623... | Conjectured optimal by Goldberg (1971).[8] |
Special cases
Only 26 optimal packings are thought to be rigid (with no circles able to "rattle"). Numbers in bold are prime:
- Proven for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19
- Conjectured for n = 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 27, 30, 31, 33, 37, 61, 91
Of these, solutions for n = 2, 3, 4, 7, 19, and 37 achieve a packing density greater than any smaller number > 1. (Higher density records all have rattles.)[10]