You have 12 tables that are all square. Each side is one meter long. What is the best way to fit them together?

Question

You want to fit them to seat the most people and take up the least amount of space. One each table, you can fit on person on each side.

Answer 1

If each table is separate you can seat 48 people. Any other arrangement seats fewer people.

For a given perimeter the smallest space is the rectangle.

Therefore arrange them in a row. 26 people can be seated.