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Estimation Challenge Part 2 (Weekly Brain Potion Discussion)

 
 
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Re: Estimation Challenge Part 2 (Weekly Brain Potion Discussion)
Lensmire John發表於2018年 03月 2日(Fri) 17:19
 

Thanks everyone for the participation (and sorry for the delay in the answer).

There were actually $75 + 75 + 75 + 20 + 1 = 246$ of the little spheres inside the bottle. You can see them all lined up in the picture below:

Spheres From Bottle

Chris's idea of using the volume of the bottle as well as the volume a single sphere takes up is a good approach!

This problem is one example of what is called a "packing problem". These types of problems, even in two-dimensions can get fairly complicated fairly quickly! Perhaps we'll see another discussion about a "packing problem" in the future!