Wu Yi Hsiang

A UC Berkeley mathematician says he has proved a theorem that has mystified scientists for 380 years. The theorem, put forth by astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1611, involves the most efficient way to pack round objects in a rectangular box. Greengrocers have known intuitively for hundreds of years that the best way to pack oranges, for example, is to stagger the layers so that each orange sits in the depression formed by three oranges below it.

A UC Berkeley mathematician says he has proved a theorem that has mystified scientists for 380 years. The theorem, put forth by astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1611, involves the most efficient way to pack round objects in a rectangular box. Greengrocers have known intuitively for hundreds of years that the best way to pack oranges, for example, is to stagger the layers so that each orange sits in the depression formed by three oranges below it.

It was comforting to note that UC Berkeley mathematician Wu-Yi Hsiang has finally proved the theorem on the most efficient way to stack oranges ("Proof That Oranges and Oranges Mix," Part A, July 31). Is this the kind of research that's funded by the new newspaper sales tax that I pay? JERRY MARTZ Hollywood