2000/05/05 by Greg Martin
Mathematics · #math.MG #math.CO #math.GN #msc:52C17
published as J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 97 (2002), 225-238. · 10 pages
arxiv created 2000/05/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
Moser asked whether the collection of rectangles of dimensions 1 x 1/2, 1/2 x 1/3, 1/3 x 1/4, ..., whose total area equals 1, can be packed into the unit square without overlap, and whether the collection of squares of side lengths 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, ... can be packed without overlap into a rectangle of area pi2/6-1. Computational investigations have been made into packing these collections into squares of side length 1+epsilon and rectangles of area pi2/6-1+epsilon, respectively, and one can consider the apparently weaker question whether such packings are possible for every positive number epsilon. In this paper we establish a general theorem on sequences of geometrical packings that implies in particular that the ``for every epsilon'' versions of these two problems are actually equivalent to the original tiling problems.