2009/06/04 by Burkard Polster, Polster, Burkard · 1 voice
Mathematics · #00A08 #97A20 #FOS: Mathematics #History and Overview (math.HO) #Mathematics and Applications #math.HO #msc:00A08 #msc:97A20
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0906.0809
8 pages, 9 figures
arxiv created 2009/06/04 · openalex publication_date 2009/06/04 · arxiv published 2009/06/04 · arxiv updated 2009/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
I often work on my laptop in bed. When needed, I park the laptop on the bedside table, where the computer has to share the small available space with a lamp, books, notes, and heaven knows what else. It often gets quite squeezy. Being regularly faced with this tricky situation, it finally occurred to me to determine once and for all how to place the laptop on the bedside table so that its ``footprint'' - the area in which it touches the bedside table - is minimal. In this note I give the solution of this problem, using some very pretty and elementary mathematics.