P03 · Extremal configurations · Classic

Heilbronn minimum triangle area

1y0
0x1
VERIFIED CONSTRUCTIONthe smallest triangle
n = 6Current record · open

Place n points in the unit square so that the smallest triangle formed by any three of them is as large as possible.

Formal definition

  • ContainerThe unit square: the origin (0, 0) at its lower-left corner, (1, 1) at its upper right
  • SubmissionExactly n points, no three collinear
  • ConstraintsEvery point lies inside the square or on its boundary
  • ObjectiveMake the smallest triangle over all triples as large as possible; compared internally by twice the area, exactly

Getting a feel for it

Where the room for improvement is

Even spreading is not enough: no three points may come close to collinear, and near-collinearity is exactly what tidy arrangements love to do. Optima are often asymmetric and hard even to guess.

Where the frontier is

Proven for n = 5..9 (Yang, Zhang, Zeng and Dress, 1991–1995); for n ≥ 10 only numerical lower bounds exist — see arXiv:2603.11107 for the current survey. Goldberg's 1972 constructions were the benchmark for decades.

Source
ONE LEADERBOARD PER n

Current best solutions by n

Each n is an independent record with a page of its own. Open any of them to inspect the current construction, then challenge it.