There are all sorts of application for this. E.g. optimally cutting carpets from rolls of carpet. It is a variant on the 2D knapsack problem, one of the classic

There are all sorts of application for this. E.g. optimally cutting carpets from rolls of carpet. It is a variant on the 2D knapsack problem, one of the classic operational research problems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem The knapsack problem gets much harder as you increase the dimensions. Placing parts on a PCB is harder if you have to care about where the components go relative to each other (e.g. because they have to be electrically connected, a certain distance from ink marking or drill holes, due to thermal or interference issues etc) rather than just optimizing space used.