Convex hulls of edge-to-edge regular \(n\)-gons (Q1181041)

Let \(P_{n,k}\) be an edge-to-edge packing of \(k\geq 2\) congruent regular \(n\)-gons such that their union is a connected set. We say that \(P_{n,k}\) is linear if the centres \(O_ 1,O_ 2,\dots\) of all \(n\)- gons lie on one line (\(n\) even) of \(O_ 1,O_ 3,\dots\) and \(O_ 2,O_ 4,\dots\) lie on two parallel lines (\(n\) odd). A packing \(P_{n,k}\) is said to be minimal if the convex hull of the union of the \(n\)-gons has minimal area. There exists an integer \(k_ 0(n)=k_ 0\) with the following property: For every \(k\leq k_ 0\) the only minimal packing is linear, but for \(k=k_ 0+1\), there is a minimal packing which is not linear. The authors prove that \(k_ 0(7)=5\), \(k_ 0(n)=3\) for twelve values of \(n\), and \(k_ 0(n)=2\) in all other cases.