Covering an arbitrary area with circles of equal radius?

Question

How would an algorithm work that covers an arbitrary area with circles of equal radius? The radius of the circle and the size and shape of the area are arbitrarily given. The area should be covered with as few circles as possible. The circles may overlap. Is there an algorithm that will handle this?

Answer 1

DIvides the area by the area of 1 circle to determine the least number of circles required.

Then the question becomes can a circle cover 2 of the wasted regions, assuming the given area

is rectangular.

Remaining area = total area - # of circles * circle area