A circle of unit radius is completely covered by three identical squares. What is the smallest size of the squares?

Consider a square placed such that two opposite corners are on the perimeter of the circle.

Place two more squares on in the same way so their diagonals form an equilateral triangle.  The sides of this triangle have length sqrt(3).  The squares have sides sqrt(2) times shorter or sqrt(6)/2 or approximately 1.225

Posted by Jer on 2005-10-21 13:05:00