[HN Gopher] The Overhang Problem (2007) [pdf]
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       The Overhang Problem (2007) [pdf]
        
       Author : f5ve
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2023-06-14 20:28 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (math.dartmouth.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (math.dartmouth.edu)
        
       | mav88 wrote:
       | These diagrams remind me of Lemmings and the builders that would
       | build staircases over gaps you needed to cross.
        
       | PlunderBunny wrote:
       | I wonder how close the historical examples come to the 20 or 30
       | block 'ideal'?
        
         | f5ve wrote:
         | I came across this paper while I was looking for a compilation
         | of constructions (especially the current record-holders), but I
         | wasn't able to find one.
         | 
         | If anyone has seen such a thing please do post.
        
       | _a_a_a_ wrote:
       | "How far can a stack of n identical blocks be made to hang over
       | the edge of a table? The question has a long history and the
       | answer was widely believed to be of order logn. Recently,
       | Paterson and Zwick constructed n-block stacks with overhangs of
       | order n^1/3 , exponentially better than previously thought
       | possible. We show here that order n^1/3 is indeed best possible,
       | resolving the long-standing overhang problem up to a constant
       | factor."
       | 
       | (from intro)
        
         | yccs27 wrote:
         | Thank you from a mobile browser user!
        
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