Gift Wrapping Five Oranges Has Outwitted the Best Minds in Mathematics for Generations

Gift Wrapping Five Oranges Has Outwitted the Best Minds in Mathematics for Generations

As someone who regularly struggles with gift wrapping even books, I took a little comfort in learning that gift wrapping oranges apparently haunts mathematicians, in part because of what’s called the «sausage catastrophe». (Then again, they were able to figure out that things get easier once you consider oranges in the 42th dimension).


From Weekly Filet #445, in June 2023.

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