How many circles fit around a circle

For this problem, an optimal solution needs to be found and proved. Wikipedia article lists the first 20 solutions in other words, it lists the smallest possible radius of the larger circle, which is enough to pack a specified number of unit circles circles with a radius of one.

Default calculator parameters, by the way, allow you to pack 11 circles, which will give you the layout presented below:. Happily, there is a project on the internet solely devoted to packing problems. It is the site called Packomania. We don't collect information from our users. Only emails and answers are saved in our archive.

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