Needing to cut more cookies can make the problem more difficult. This is an Inside Science story. It's time for one of the biggest decisions of the year: How should you cut Christmas cookies from a ...

Mathematical modelling and optimisation in packing problems constitute a critical research area that combines advanced algorithms, rigorous analytical formulations, and practical applications. This ...

We give a unified probabilistic analysis for a general class of bin packing problems by directly analyzing corresponding mathematical programs. In this general class of packing problems, objects are ...

Imagine placing oranges or tennis balls into a rigid container. How can the balls be arranged such that they occupy the largest volume fraction of the container, otherwise known as the largest packing ...

How to safely reopen offices, schools and other public spaces while keeping people six feet apart comes down to a question mathematicians have been studying for centuries. Sphere packing might seem ...

Optimal packing problems have inspired mathematicians for centuries. Biophysicists now add a layer to the question: How do chloroplasts arrange themselves optimally within cells, when the meaning of ...

From the outside looking in, a fall semester Operations Research class looked just like any other—math and science students gazing intently into the faces of their computers, quietly puzzling over how ...