The problem of packaging and optimizing space can be viewed from different perspectives. The view of the wholesaler who has volumes of items to transport from one place to another is very much concerned with standardizing a package box that can accommodate several different sizes of melons or other kinds of fruit. Modeling the packaging problem begins with an investigation of packing rectangles into a fixed region, as a truck driver would do when loading boxes into a truck.
Students then design a container in which to pack items of a fixed size.
The problem returns to a container of fixed size, but this time the objects to be packed are circular. The investigation then pursues the design of an optimal container for soda cans. Finally, the challenge of packing leads to designing the optimum container for the different sizes of melons.