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Dense Sphere Packings

Dense Sphere Packings

Dense Sphere Packings

A Blueprint for Formal Proofs
Thomas Hales, University of Pittsburgh
December 2012
Available
Paperback
9780521617703
$65.99
USD
Paperback
USD
eBook

    The 400-year-old Kepler conjecture asserts that no packing of congruent balls in three dimensions can have a density exceeding the familiar pyramid-shaped cannonball arrangement. In this book, a new proof of the conjecture is presented that makes it accessible for the first time to a broad mathematical audience. The book also presents solutions to other previously unresolved conjectures in discrete geometry, including the strong dodecahedral conjecture on the smallest surface area of a Voronoi cell in a sphere packing. This book is also currently being used as a blueprint for a large-scale formal proof project, which aims to check every logical inference of the proof of the Kepler conjecture by computer. This is an indispensable resource for those who want to be brought up to date with research on the Kepler conjecture.

    • Provides a significantly simplified proof of the Kepler conjecture
    • Equips the reader with knowledge of how to apply computer optimization methods to solve a family of related problems in geometry
    • Demonstrates how a new style of mathematical exposition is developing, in which mathematical claims are supported by formal proofs

    Reviews & endorsements

    "… interesting and unusual book … beautifully written and is full of interesting historical notes. Moreover, each chapter is equipped with a very helpful summary, and many technical arguments are accompanied by a conceptual informal discussion. The book also features a detailed index and a nice bibliography. It is bound to become an indispensable resource for anyone wishing to study Kepler's conjecture."
    Zentralblatt MATH

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    Product details

    December 2012
    Paperback
    9780521617703
    286 pages
    228 × 152 × 15 mm
    0.42kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Close packing
    • 2. Trigonometry
    • 3. Volume
    • 4. Hypermap
    • 5. Fan
    • 6. Packing
    • 7. Local fan
    • 8. Tame hypermap
    • 9. Further results.
      Author
    • Thomas Hales , University of Pittsburgh

      Professor Thomas Hales is Andrew Mellon Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He is best known for his solution to the 400-year-old Kepler conjecture and is also known for the proof of the honeycomb conjecture. He is currently helping to develop technology that would allow computers to do mathematical proofs. His honors include the Chauvenet Prize of the MAA, the R. E. Moore Prize, the Lester R. Ford Award of the MAA, the Robbins Prize of the AMS and the Fulkerson Prize of the Mathematical Programming Society.