Talk:Kepler conjecture

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Mathematics rating:	B Class	Mid Priority	Field: Geometry
Please update this rating as the article progresses, or if the rating is inaccurate. Click to show/hide comments. Please add to or update the comments to suggest improvements to the article. --Cronholm144 21:42, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] references

Only one of the sources for this article is to an online reference. Can anyone provide something else clickable and checkable? wikipediatrix 19:29, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] description of Hale's proof

The following description is not correct:

"If a lower bound could be found for every one of these configurations that was greater than the value for the cubic close packing arrangement, then the Kepler conjecture would be proved."

If a lower bound could be found for JUST one of these configurations that is GREATER than the value for the cubic close packing arrangement, than that would definetly mean that Kepler's conjecture would be wrong!

Ths sentence should probably read:

"If an upper bound could be found for every one of these configurations that was smaller than the value for the cubic close packing arrangement, then the Kepler conjecture would be proved."

84.245.187.49 09:56, 9 October 2006 (UTC) (jbulling: see the german page for my user id)

The article says that Hales proof uses a function whose minimum value corresponds to the maximum density for a given arrangement. So a lower bound for the function value gives an upper bound for an arrangement's density. If the lower bound of the function value for a given arrangement is greater than the value of the function for the cubic close packing arrangement then this arrangement cannot achieve a packing density as high as that of cubic close packing. I have added some clarifications to the explanation in the article itself. Gandalf61 13:54, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures?

This article seems to be crying out for some diagrams showing how the spheres stack up, if anyone has the skills and knowledge to produce them. (Or enough cannonballs.)—Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.86.133.45 (talk • contribs)

I agree. I have added a diagram borrowed from the sphere packing article. Gandalf61 (talk) 09:52, 19 November 2007 (UTC)