After just a few months of work, a complete newcomer to the world of sphere packing has solved one of its biggest open problems. Introduction In math, the search for optimal patterns never ends. The sphere-packing problem — which asks how to cram balls into a (high-dimensional) box as efficiently as possible — is no exception. It has enticed mathematicians for centuries and has important applications in cryptography, long-distance communication and more. It’s deceptively difficult. In the early ...