An Existential Proof of the Conjecture on Packing Anchored Rectangles

Abstract

Let $P_n$ be a set of $n$ points, including the origin, in the unit square $U=[0,1{]}^2$. We consider the problem of constructing $n$ axis-parallel and mutually disjoint rectangles inside $U$ such that the bottom-left corner of each rectangle coincides with a point in $P_n$ and the total area covered by the rectangles is maximized \cite{ibmpuzzle}, \cite{Winkler2007}, \cite{Winkler2010a}, \cite{Winkler2010b}. The longstanding conjecture has been that at least half of $U$ can be covered when such rectangles are properly placed. In this paper, we give an existential proof of the conjecture.

This paper has been withdrawn as a bug has been discovered in the proof of Claim 5