How many coins can touch one coin, or how many basketballs can “kiss” one basketball at the same time? This seemingly playful question lies at the heart of the famous kissing number problem, a mathematical riddle that becomes almost supernaturally difficult to work out in dimensions beyond 4D. Despite its whimsical name, similar problems have practical applications in areas such as mobile communications and satellite navigation.
Human ingenuity outpaces AI in finding new ‘kissing number’ bounds
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