"re you sure that arrangement of 6 was really a solution and did not require some minute bending or deformation?" It's a good question, but then, it is also a

"re you sure that arrangement of 6 was really a solution and did not require some minute bending or deformation?" It's a good question, but then, it is also a perfect example of why playing around with the real object is sometimes better than applying a theoretical analysis. The question was about cigarettes, and cigarettes do bend / deform. That means that any analysis will need to take this characteristic into account. The problem is, we don't necessarily know all of the factors that need to be modelled to do a correct analysis, which is why empirical testing is still an important technique for problem solving.