Packing Memes

Mathematicians and computational geometrists having wildly different reactions to packing problems is peak nerd culture. The 2D square packing? Snooze-worthy. But throw in some 3D chess pieces with their complex geometries and suddenly it's the intellectual equivalent of a rave party. The complexity jump from 2D to 3D packing is actually enormous - going from a polynomial-time solvable problem to an NP-hard computational nightmare that makes supercomputers sweat. It's like comparing a kiddie pool to the Mariana Trench. No wonder our mathematician friend is fully awakened by that sweet, sweet 3D packing challenge!

Finally, a real-world application of the Kepler conjecture! Those Tic Tacs are packed so efficiently they'd make Johannes Kepler weep with joy. The manufacturer clearly hired a mathematician instead of a marketing executive. "How can we fit more mints in the same space? Simple! Just arrange them in a face-centered cubic lattice with 74.05% space efficiency!" Meanwhile, nature's been doing this with atoms for billions of years without bragging about it. The universe's oldest space-saving hack, now available in fresh mint flavor.