The mathematics of gift wrapping/ science news

Title: UBC Mathematics postdoctoral fellow Dr. Adam Martens talks about the geometry of gift wrapping

Source : The University of British Columbia

Date: December 18, 2025

Author : Dr. Adam Martens

Page: An online article from UBC

Link: https://news.ubc.ca/2025/12/the-mathematics-of-gift-wrapping/ 

 

Summary:

The article talks about how wrapping gifts is not only an art but also a type of math. Dr. Adam Martens, a mathematics postdoctoral fellow at UBC and a differential geometer, explains how the shape of a gift affects how easy or difficult it is to wrap. Boxes are the easiest because they have flat sides and simple edges that paper can fold over. Round objects like spheres are impossible to wrap perfectly without creases or folds, so the best way is to put them in a box. Surprisingly, some complicated shapes, like a donut (torus), could be perfectly wrapped if we lived in four dimensions, but that is not possible in our 3D world. Cubes are the most efficient for using the least wrapping paper because for the same volume, they have the smallest surface area. Even though gift bags are less efficient, people like them because they are pleasing to the eye, often following the golden ratio, which appears in nature, art, and architecture. Overall, the article shows how math, geometry, and even physics play a role in something as common as wrapping presents.

 Who: Dr. Adam Martens, a mathematics postdoctoral fellow and differential geometer at the University of British Columbia.

What: He explains the mathematical principles behind wrapping gifts, which shapes are easiest or hardest to wrap, and how to save wrapping paper while making gifts look nice.

Where: While the examples are universal, the expert is based at UBC in Canada, and the context is the holiday season where people wrap gifts.

When: During the holiday season, for celebrations like Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, when gift-giving is common.

Why: To show that wrapping gifts can be approached in a smarter way, using math to reduce waste, make the task easier, and even improve how gifts look.

 

 

 My thoughts:

So writing a summary for this news and article was hard for me because I did not really know about some of the vocabulary in professional math especially because it's UBC, I think it was harder to fully understand it but I got some help and I wrote it .

This article was the most interesting news I've ever read because it makes a normal holiday task like wrapping presents feel scientific and exciting. I never thought about why boxes are so easy to wrap or why spheres are so impossible without creases. The example of a donut-shaped gift that could only be wrapped in four dimensions was mind-blowing it shows how math can reach places beyond what we can even imagine in everyday life. I also liked learning that cubes are the best shape to save wrapping paper and that the golden ratio can make gift bags look more appealing even if they use more paper. This made me think that math isn’t just for classroomsit’s actually useful in everyday life, even in small things like wrapping presents. Next time I wrap gifts, I want to pay more attention to the shape and maybe try using cubes or flat boxes more, so I can save paper and make my gifts look better. It also makes me appreciate how much thought goes into design, shape, and aesthetics without most people realizing it. I think understanding this kind of math can make holiday preparations more fun, creative, and thoughtful.