Problem Description
Filters, or programs that pass ``processed'' data through in some changed form, are an important class of programs in the UNIX operating system. A pipe is an operating system concept that permits data to ``flow'' between processes (and allows filters to be chained together easily.)
This problem involves maximizing the number of pipes that can be fit into a storage container (but it's a pipe fitting problem, not a bin packing problem).
A company manufactures pipes of uniform diameter. All pipes are stored in rectangular storage containers, but the containers come in several different sizes. Pipes are stored in rows within a container so that there is no space between pipes in any row (there may be some space at the end of a row), i.e., all pipes in a row are tangent, or touch. Within a rectangular cross-section, pipes are stored in either a grid