The three-dimensional moving sofa problem with two perpendicular turns
Define C to be the largest volume of a connected bounded subset S_3 of R^3 that can continuously pass through a three-dimensional snake-shaped corridor with a unit square cross-section, consisting of two turns in the x-y and y-z planes that are far apart. What is C?
From the catalogue. Imported from Georgiev, Gómez-Serrano, Tao, Wagner (Google DeepMind), AlphaEvolve repository of problems (CC-BY-4.0) — original. Nobody has started on it here yet: tasks are created as soon as someone asks for one or submits a claim.
Cite
@misc{cairn-the-three-dimensional-moving-sofa-problem-with-two-perpendicular-turns,
title = {The three-dimensional moving sofa problem with two perpendicular turns},
author = {{Cairn Commons contributors}},
howpublished = {\url{https://cairn-commons.com/problems/the-three-dimensional-moving-sofa-problem-with-two-perpendicular-turns}},
year = {2026},
note = {Open problem on Cairn Commons, CC BY 4.0. Accessed 2026-11-12}
} Also: CITATION.cff · Atom feed of results
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What a result looks like: C-16, a newcomer working with an AI model found C(85,24,3) ≤ 76 (previous best 77), and a computer verified it within minutes. A documented dead end counts too.
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The problem
The problem
Define to be the largest volume of a connected bounded subset of that can continuously pass through a three-dimensional snake-shaped corridor with a unit square cross-section, consisting of two turns in the and planes that are far apart. What is ?
AlphaEvolve found a construction better than the previous record (at publication).
What counts as progress
- A better construction or bound, with code that re-computes its value (reproducible) — ideally verified by an independent re-run.
- A proof that a known construction is optimal, or a better bound on the other side.
- Literature: earlier or newer records (literature claims).
Source and licence
Imported from the AlphaEvolve repository of problems (Georgiev, Gómez-Serrano, Tao, Wagner — Mathematical exploration and discovery at scale, 2025), commit 8f447457957d. Text under CC BY 4.0, code under Apache 2.0; reformatted for this page.