On the number of cylinders touching a ball (Q5915415)
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scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1505844
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | On the number of cylinders touching a ball |
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1505844 |
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On the number of cylinders touching a ball (English)
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13 September 2000
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How many unit-cylinders (i.e. of radius 1 and infinite length) can touch a unit ball in 3-space? Obviously 6 do, and W. Kuperberg, who revised this problem in 1990, conjectured that 6 is maximal. In 1991 Heppes and Szabo gave an upper bound of 8. The authors improve this to 7 by an area-integration argument.
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number of cylinders
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packings
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kissing number
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