scavo@cs.uoregon.edu (Tom Scavo) (10/12/90)
In article <6596@suns4.cel.co.uk> ajy@cel.uucp (Andrew Yeomans) writes: >Does anyone have a program to solve problems such as pentominos, n-tominos, >soma cube, etc, where irregular shaped blocks have to be packed into a >larger cube (or other shape)? > >It shouldn't be difficult to write one (map 3 dimensional shapes to 1-D bit >arrays, then use bit operations to test which pieces fit, add some >recursion and maybe some heuristic speedups and there you have it!). Here's an interesting problem along these lines. Does there exist a two-dimensional geometric analogue to 1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + ... + 24^2 = 70^2 ? In other words, using 24 square puzzle pieces of increasing size, can they be fit together to form one large square, 70 units on each side? I haven't the faintest idea if this can actually be done. Saw it in a magazine a long time ago. -- Tom Scavo <scavo@cs.uoregon.edu> ---------