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arXiv · 2608.13595

Three Squares in a Rectangle

Haobo Yang
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Abstract

For $x\ge1$, let $G_3(x)$ be the maximum sum of the side lengths of three pairwise interior-disjoint, arbitrarily rotated squares contained in a $1\times x$ rectangle. We determine this function exactly: $G_3(x)=x+\tfrac12$ for $1\le x\le\tfrac32$, $G_3(x)=2$ for $\tfrac32\le x\le2$, $G_3(x)=x$ for $2\le x\le3$, and $G_3(x)=3$ for $x\ge3$. This completes the $n=3$ case of the rectangular square-packing question posed by Richard Stanley in a 2021 MathOverflow comment. The values for $\tfrac32\le x\le3$ follow from a strip theorem stating that three squares in $[0,1]\times[0,H]$, $H\ge2$, have total side length at most $H$. For $x\ge3$, the formula is immediate because each square has side length at most $1$. The range $1\le x\le\tfrac32$ is handled by combining the two-square theorem with an additional semi-perimeter estimate for a triangle whose two nonhorizontal sides have opposite slopes. In particular, the special case $x=2$ answers the question asked in the MathOverflow post. In connection with Erd\H{o}s problem #106, we also prove that every five-square packing in the unit square with an axis-parallel guillotine cut has total side length at most $2$.

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Haobo Yang. 2026-07-29. Three Squares in a Rectangle. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.13595

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