This will not happen, however, for size ratios ≤ 2/ √ 3 - 1 ≃ 0.15 , since then the small circles can fit into the interstices of an ordinary hexagonal pattern, yielding a filling fraction 1/18(17 √ 13 - 24) π ≃ 0.95 .

By the 1950s anthropological studies of various languages—notably by Benjamin Whorf —had encouraged the idea that concepts that did not appear to fit in certain languages simply could not enter the thinking of users of those languages.

Following his introduction of relativity theory in 1905, Albert Einstein began to seek a theory of gravity that would fit in with it.

If one draws a more general curve on a page, one can define its curvature at every point by seeing what size of circle fits it best at that point—or equivalently what the coefficients are in a quadratic approximation.

But in 1900 Max Planck noticed that fits to the measured spectrum of electromagnetic radiation produced by hot objects could be explained if there were discrete quanta of electromagnetic energy.