Plain language

What this result means

This is the same test as circle packing in the unit square, but with harder walls. The square is replaced by a triangle or a pentagon, so the contact patterns change and the system has to rebuild the search around new constraints instead of reusing one fixed geometry.

  • The three clear beats are pentagon n=15, triangle n=27, and triangle n=30.
  • Friedman's page prints values with a trailing plus, so hidden digits may exist. A beat only counts when the new layout clears the whole hidden-digit window.
  • Pentagon n=21-30 and triangle n=31-34 had no listed value, so those rows are frontier extensions rather than beats.

Visual notes

How to read the result

Minimal black and white visualization of thirty non-overlapping circles packed in a unit equilateral triangle.
Triangle n=30 layoutThe highest-margin triangle beat in the report. The container changes the search: wall contacts are now angled edge constraints, not square boundaries.
Minimal black and white visualization of fifteen non-overlapping circles packed in a regular pentagon.
Pentagon n=15 layoutThe pentagon record uses the same raw-coordinate check as the square-packing page, but with five edge half-planes instead of four square walls.
Horizontal bar chart showing that the three Friedman packing records clear the required hidden-digit window.
The hidden-digit gateFriedman prints a value with '+', so the visible number is only a floor. The chart shows each claimed beat clearing the whole hidden-digit window.

Result table

Three clear beats and fourteen first-known container values.

CellBaselineNumaroDeltaNote
cirRpen n=152.612512.612714+0.00020Viquerat June 2026
cirRtri n=271.763001.764217+0.00122Cantrell July 2011
cirRtri n=301.863151.865806+0.00266Viquerat June 2026
cirRpen n=21none listed3.088531first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=22none listed3.165663first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=23none listed3.247349first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=24none listed3.327581first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=25none listed3.391645first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=26none listed3.476635first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=27none listed3.539869first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=28none listed3.610265first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=29none listed3.681347first-knownfrontier extension
cirRpen n=30none listed3.745880first-knownfrontier extension
cirRtri n=31none listed1.894825first-knownfrontier extension
cirRtri n=32none listed1.923736first-knownfrontier extension
cirRtri n=33none listed1.956110first-knownfrontier extension
cirRtri n=34none listed1.988375first-knownfrontier extension

Method

How it was found

The system searches circle centers inside each container, then recomputes the best radii for those centers. It keeps only layouts whose score survives the final geometry check and the printed-baseline gate.

  • Reused the square-packing search loop, but replaced square walls with triangle and pentagon edge constraints.
  • Tried many center layouts using multistart search and topology perturbations.
  • Recomputed the best feasible radii for promising center layouts instead of trusting the optimizer's radii.
  • Counted a beat only when the final value cleared Friedman's full printed window.

Verification

How it was checked

Each layout is checked from raw coordinates. Every circle must stay inside the triangle or pentagon, every pair of circles must stay disjoint, and the final score is the sum of all radii. For the three record claims, the score also has to clear the hidden digits allowed by Friedman's printed plus sign.

Scope

What is not being claimed

Only the three clear beats are record claims. Values that merely match within Friedman's display window are not counted, and the frontier rows are first-known feasible layouts rather than optimality proofs.

References

Baseline sources

Citation

How to cite

Numaro Autoresearch Team. "Maximizing total radius in triangle and pentagon containers." Numaro Research Report NUMARO-2026-005, 2026.

@techreport{numaro2026FriedmanPackingCenter,
  title = {Maximizing total radius in triangle and pentagon containers},
  author = {Numaro Autoresearch Team},
  institution = {Numaro},
  number = {NUMARO-2026-005},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://numaro.tech/research/friedman-packing-center-2026/}
}