A 10x10 square can obviously hold 100 unit circles (diameter=1) when arranged in rows and columns. What is the maximum number of non-overlapping unit circles a 10x10 square can hold if the circles are packed closer together?

I see that there is some agreement on the maximum being 105 placed using hexagonal packing.

105 is NOT the maximum.  The optimum packing is not quite that simple.

Posted by Brian Smith on 2004-07-30 08:05:41