[mbauman]

> We know an optimally dense packing for 2D spheres

We do? I think this is the latest state of the research here — only 14 Ns are proven optimal and it's certainly nowhere close to a general algorithm: http://hydra.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/packing/cci/

There's something to be said for a dozen lines of numpy that gets "close enough". That said, I do think there should be something better.

[plagiarist]

If they're 2D and packed on a plane, though, I think we do. That's reasonable if we're talking about "close enough." I wouldn't argue with the brevity of the numpy, though. Choosing how to place the disk over a plane of circles in an optimal way could be complicated.