Question

A set of circular cups are placed so that they are touching rim to rim, as close together as possible. It is not possible to fit more cups inside the group if the longest straight line is five cups long, how many cups are there altogether?

Answer 1

The total number of cups in arranged in an hexagonal area = 19 cups

Explanation:

The pack the most circles within an area, the arrangement with the densest packing is the hexagonal lattice structure similar to the bee's honeycomb as has been proved Gauss and Fejes Toth.

Therefore, we pack the circles in an hexagonal lattice structure in an assumed hexagonal area where we have;

The longest straight line is five cups the next on either side are four cups and the final line on either side has three cups

The total number of cups = 3 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 3 = 19 cups

The total number of cups = 19 cups.