In a square of side 4, I pack 4 circles of unit radius.

What's the largest circle I can fit into the center (such that it doesn't overlap the other circles)?

(In reply to by )

The problem as stated has the stated solution.

Problem statement: In a square of side 4, I pack 4 circles of unit radius. What's the largest circle I can fit into the center (such that it doesn't overlap the other circles)?

Solution statement: Draw a square with vertices on the center of each of the big circles. The sides are 2, so the diagonal of 2sqrt(2) equals 2 plus twice the small circle's radius.So, the largest circle which can be placed has radius: sqrt(2) - 1.  

Posted by Richard on 2004-10-20 00:28:06