Block stacking problem

Gilles Cazelais
Suppose we have a stack of n identical blocks of unit length and we try to balance them on the edge of a table. What is the largest possible oset distance from the tables edge? Let dn be the maximum oset distance of a stack of n blocks.

Table

dn

When the largest oset is obtained, the center of mass of the n blocks must lie right above the tables edge and the center of mass of the n 1 top blocks must lie right above the edge of the bottom block. n blocks dn n 1 blocks dn1

Table

Table

dn1 +

1 2

Let M be the mass of a single block. By computing the total moment of the n blocks with respect to the right edge we obtain nM dn = M (dn1 + 1 2 ) + (n 1)M dn1 . We can solve for dn to obtain the recurrence relation dn = dn1 + It is easy to see that d1 = 1 2. 1 . 2n

Table By iteration we obtain d2 = d1 + d3 = d2 + d4 = d3 +

d1 =

1 2

1 1 1 1 = + = 22 2 4 2

1+ 1+ 1+

1 2 1 1 + 2 3 1 1 1 + + 2 3 4 .

1 1 1 1 1 = + + = 23 2 4 6 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 = + + + = 24 2 4 6 8 2

We see that in general we have the following formula. dn = 1 2 1+ 1 1 1 + + + 2 3 n

This result could be proved by mathematical induction. Since we know that the harmonic series 1+ 1 1 1 + + + 2 3 4

diverges to innity, we get the surprising fact that the oset distance satises
n

lim dn = .

This means that dn can become arbitrarily large provided that we choose n large enough.

How many blocks do we need so that the left edge of the top block extends beyond the edge of the table? Since 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 25 d3 = and d4 = 1+ + = 1+ + + = 2 2 3 12 2 2 3 4 24 we see that at least 4 blocks are needed.

Table

d3 < 1

Table

d4 > 1

It is interesting to observe that since d52 = 1 2 1+ 1 1 1 + + + 2 3 52 2.27,

if we use a deck of 52 cards instead of blocks, we can obtain an oset distance of about 2.27 times the length of a card.

Table

d52 2.27

Gilles Cazelais. Typeset with L A T EX on July 14, 2006.