New Approaches to Circle Packing in a Square

Summarizes results achieved in solving the circle packing problem. This work provides the reader with a comprehensive view of theoretical and computational achievements. It also includes a CD that provides the various open source programming codes used, enabling the reader to improve on them and solve the problem instances that remain challenging.

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In one sense, the problem of finding the densest packing of congruent circles in a square is easy to understand. But on closer inspection, this problem reveals itself to be an interesting challenge of discrete and computational geometry with all its surprising structural forms and regularities. This book summarizes results achieved in solving the circle packing problem over the past few years, providing the reader with a comprehensive view of both theoretical and computational achievements. Typically illustrations of problem solutions are shown, elegantly displaying the results obtained.

Beyond the theoretically challenging character of the problem, the solution methods developed in the book also have many practical applications.

Since the codes can be worked with directly, they will enable the reader to improve on them and solve problem instances that still remain challenging, or to use them as a starting point for solving related application problems.