P53 · Extremal configurations · Classic · Applied frontier · Weak baseline

The biggest little polygon

Also known asbiggest little polygonlargest small polygon

1.5y0
0x1.5
VERIFIED CONSTRUCTIONthe convex hull and its diameter pair
n = 10Current record · open

Choose n points in the plane with pairwise distances at most 1 in strictly convex position, maximizing the area of the convex n-gon they span.

Formal definition

  • ContainerUnconstrained in the plane: the only global constraint is diameter at most 1, with coordinates written inside [0, 1.5] × [0, 1.5]
  • SubmissionExactly n points
  • ConstraintsAll pairwise distances are at most 1, and every point is a strict vertex of the convex hull
  • Areaqᵢ = (xᵢ,yᵢ) are the hull vertices ordered counterclockwise by the verifier (submissions need not be pre-sorted); internally, the verifier compares the shoelace value 2A(P) in exact arithmeticA(P)=12|∑i=1n(xiyi+1−xi+1yi)|,qn+1=q1
  • ObjectiveMaximize the area A(P) over all convex n-gons P of diameter at most 1maxPA(P)

Getting a feel for it

Why only even n are included

For odd n, the regular n-gon is already known to maximize area among polygons of diameter 1. For even n, asymmetric polygons beat the regular n-gon; for instance, Graham's hexagon has nearly 4% more area than the regular hexagon of diameter 1. Accordingly, only even n are included here.

Known results

Reinhardt (1922) proved that regular polygons are optimal for odd n. For even n, optimal configurations have been proven for n = 6, 8, 10, and 12 (from Graham 1975 through Audet et al.), while n ≥ 14 has only numerical best-known constructions and remains open.

ONE LEADERBOARD PER n

Current best solutions by n

Each parameter n is an independently scored sub-problem. Select any card to inspect the current record construction or submit a stronger solution.

Discussion (0) ↓
n6
CURRENT RECORD0.6749814428947967605proven optimum 0.674981442583578222
Answer sourceReference answer
Solution method—
n8
CURRENT RECORD0.726868482719944781proven optimum 0.7268684825426360895
Answer sourceReference answer
Solution method—
n10
CURRENT RECORD0.749137345831583395proven optimum 0.749137345462261051
Answer sourceReference answer
Solution method—
n12
CURRENT RECORD0.760729873376979274proven optimum 0.760729873056791328
Answer sourceReference answer
Solution method—
n14
CURRENT RECORD0.7675310110952631555best known [0.76753101145, 0.76753101155]
Hard
Record holder邱仲普
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol
n16
CURRENT RECORD0.771861321957072239best known [0.7718613215, 0.7718613225]
Matches the best known
Record holder邱仲普
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol
n18
CURRENT RECORD0.7747881650727638625best known [0.77478816545, 0.77478816555]
Hard
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra
n20
CURRENT RECORD0.7768587559996760705best known [0.7768587555, 0.7768587565]
Matches the best known
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra
n22
CURRENT RECORD0.778377330101338485best known [0.77837733045, 0.77837733055]
Hard
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra
n24
CURRENT RECORD0.779524045131161302best known [0.77952404545, 0.77952404555]
Hard
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra
n26
CURRENT RECORD0.780411119912473194
Medium
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra
n28
CURRENT RECORD0.7811114189925910415
Medium
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra
n30
CURRENT RECORD0.781673926695356704best known [0.7816739265, 0.7816739275]
Hard
Record holderzzzcy
Solution methodAI · OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra

Data and citation

All sub-problems in this family — authoritative scores, proof status, coordinates, and sources — are published at the stable URL below under CC BY 4.0. Because scores update as records fall, please cite the file's generatedAt timestamp.

GET https://minmaxarena.com/data/biggest-little-polygon.json

Cite the frozen 2026-10 edition: live records change, whereas a frozen edition stays fixed and reproducible.

GET https://minmaxarena.com/data/editions/2026-10/biggest-little-polygon.json
BibTeX (click to copy)
@misc{minmaxarena-biggest-little-polygon-2026-10,
  title  = {{The biggest little polygon} (P53)},
  author = {{MinMax Arena}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {Machine-verified records, 2026-10 edition},
  url    = {https://minmaxarena.com/data/editions/2026-10/biggest-little-polygon.json},
  license = {CC BY 4.0}
}
DISCUSSION

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