• blx@piefed.zip
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    2 days ago

    Oh just that square packing thing from the post. There have been many posts/jokes about it being a mathematically optimal solution that feels irritatingly wrong.

    I find the whole thing funny because it’s a very niche scientific concept that somehow made it to popular culture to the same level as a zombie game.

    • ulterno@programming.dev
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      2 days ago

      Yeah, it might be optimal for that specific case, but that doesn’t really make it so everywhere.

      The item in the post would be fun for novelty though.

      • definitemaybe@lemmy.ca
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        10 hours ago

        The downvotes are, I assume, from the *WHOOSH* sound as the point flies over your head.

        This is the optimal packing of 17 squares in a minimum-size larger square. Of course it’s not optimal everywhere. It’s specific to 17 squares packed in a square.

        The joke is that there’s no reason to choose 17 squares as, clearly, a rectangular* array is optimal.

        *squares are, of course, rectangles.