Packings On The Sphere
A related problem is to determine the lowest-energy arrangement of identically interacting points that are constrained to lie within a given surface. The Thomson problem deals with the lowest energy distribution of identical electric charges on the surface of a sphere. The Tammes problem is a generalisation of this, dealing with maximising the minimum distance between circles on sphere. This is analogous to distributing non-point charges on a sphere.
Read more about this topic: Circle Packing
Famous quotes containing the word sphere:
“Prayer is the fair and radiant daughter of all the human virtues, the arch connecting heaven and earth, the sweet companion that is alike the lion and the dove; and prayer will give you the key of heaven. As pure and as bold as innocence, as strong as all things are that are entire and single, this fair and invincible queen rests on the material world; she has taken possession of it; for, like the sun, she casts about it a sphere of light.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)