this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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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.
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.
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.