Unions of regular polygons with large perimeter-to-area ratio (Q2351023)

The authors research the following problem of the perimeter-to-area ratio of \(n\)-gons: is it true that this ratio for single regular \(n\)-gon with side length 1 maximizes the ratio of the union of regular \(n\)-gons with side length 1? In the paper, the negative answer to this question is given for \(n=3\) and \(n=4\). For \(n=3\) (the triangle case), the authors give a counterexample proving the theorem of existence of a polygon that is the union of 4 regular triangles with side length 1 for which the perimeter-to-area ratio is greater than the ratio for a single triangle (i.e., greater than 3). Similarly for \(n=4\) (the square case), they give a counterexample proving the theorem of existence of a polygon that is the union of 5 squares with side length 1 for which the perimeter-to-area ratio is greater than for a single square one (i.e., than 4). Additionally some other counterexamples are given. The idea of the counterexamples originated from the results obtained using a special computer algorithm. The authors suggest as a hypothesis that their constructions of the counterexamples can be generalized to a counterexample of \(n+1\) regular polygons with \(n\) vertices and unit side length. In this regard, 8 open problems are formulated at the end of the paper.