A343262 a(n) is the number of edges of a regular polygon P with the property that packing n nonoverlapping equal circles inside P, arranged in a configuration with dihedral symmetry D_{2m} with m >= 3, maximizes the packing density.

3, 4, 5, 3, 6, 7, 4, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 3

Offset: 3

Author

Ya-Ping Lu, Apr 09 2021

Keywords

• nonn
• more

Comments

Numbers of dihedral symmetries D_{2m} (m >= 3) that n nonoverlapping equal circles possess are given in A343005. The regular polygon is a circle for n=1 and a square for n=2. However, as the symmetry types, O(2) for one circle and D_{4} for two circles, are not D_{2m} with m >= 3, the index of the sequence starts at n = 3.

It can be shown that a(n) <= n and a(n) = k*m/2, where m is the order of a dihedral symmetry of n-circle packing configurations and k is a positive integer.

Examples

			For n=3, 3-circle configurations possess one dihedral symmetry D_{6}, or m = 3. Since a(n) must be <= 3 and also a multiple of m, a(n) = 3.
For n = 16, 16-circle configurations have 6 D_{2m} symmetries with m >= 3.
Packing densities are for
m = 16: Pi/(2+2*csc(Pi/8)) = 0.43474+,
m = 15: (8*Pi/15)/(1+csc(2*Pi/15)) = 0.48445+,
m =  8: 4*sqrt(2)*Pi/(1+sqrt(2)+sqrt(3)+sqrt(4-2*sqrt(2)))^2 = 0.65004+,
m =  5: (16*Pi/5)*(7-3*sqrt(5))/sqrt(10+2*sqrt(5)) = 0.77110+,
m =  4: Pi/4 = 0.78539+,
m =  3: 8*Pi/(12+13*sqrt(3)) = 0.72813+.
The highest packing density is achieved at m = 4, or a(16) = 4.
Symmetry type (S) of n-circle configuration giving the highest packing density and the corresponding number of edges (N) of the regular polygon and packing density are given below. The packing configurations are illustrated in the Links.
   n       S      N      Packing density
------  --------  --  -------------------------------------------------------------
   3      D_{6}   3   Pi/(2+4/sqrt(3))                                   = 0.72900+
  4,9,16  D_{8}   4   Pi/4                                               = 0.78539+
   5      D_{10}  5   Pi/(2+8/sqrt(10+2*sqrt(5)))                        = 0.76569+
   6      D_{6}   3   6*Pi/(12+7*sqrt(3))                                = 0.78134+
   7      D_{12}  6   7*Pi/(12+8*sqrt(3))                                = 0.85051+
   8      D_{14}  7   4*Pi/(7+7/sin(2*Pi/7))                             = 0.78769+
  10      D_{6}   3   5*Pi/(9+6*sqrt(3))                                 = 0.81001+
  11      D_{10}  5   (22*Pi/25)/sqrt(10+2*sqrt(5))                      = 0.72671+
  12      D_{6}   6   6*Pi/(12+7*sqrt(3))                                = 0.78134+
  13      D_{12}  6   13*sqrt(3)*Pi/96                                   = 0.73685+
  14      D_{14}  7   4*Pi/(sin(2*Pi/7)*(sqrt(3)+cot(Pi/7)+sec(Pi/7))^2) = 0.66440+
  15      D_{6}   3   15*Pi/(24+19*sqrt(3))                              = 0.82805+
  17      D_{8}   4   (17*Pi/4)/(7+3*sqrt(2)+3*sqrt(3)+sqrt(6))          = 0.70688+
  18      D_{12}  6   9*Pi/(12+13*sqrt(3))                               = 0.81915+
  19      D_{12}  6   19*Pi/(24+26*sqrt(3))                              = 0.86465+
  20      D_{8}   4   20*Pi/(2+sqrt(2)+2*sqrt(3)+sqrt(6))^2              = 0.72213+
  21      D_{6}   3   21*Pi/(30+28*sqrt(3))                              = 0.84045+
		

Links

• Erich Friedman, Packing Equal Copies
• Ya-Ping Lu, Illustration of packing configurations
• Eckard Specht, Packomania, Packings of equal and unequal circles in fixed-sized containers with maximum packing density

Crossrefs

Cf. A023393, A051657, A084616, A084617, A084618, A084644, A133587, A227405, A247397, A253570, A257594, A269110, A308578, A337019, A337020, A343005.