Hi Carlene.

If you think of "stacks" of tyres, then each has a width equal to length times a height, but there are three ways of orienting the stack to waste more or less space in the container.

I'd start by converting things to inches and cubic inches.

Watch how I solve the problem for my smaller "shipping container":

Question: Each bagel is 10 cm in diameter and 2 cm high. How many (at most) can you fit in a box that is 15 cm by 32 cm by 19 cm?

Solution:

1. If I stack the bagels along the 15 cm side, I can stack 7 bagels in that dimension (15 > 2cm x 7 bagels). I can only put 1 bagel in the 19cm dimension (19 > 10cm x 1 bagel) and 3 along the 32 cm dimension (32 > 10cm x 3 bagels). Thus I have 7 x 1 x 3 = 21 bagels.
   
   
2. If I stack them along the 32 cm side, I have 32 = 2cm x 16 bagels there, still 19 > 10cm x 1 bagel in the 19cm dimension and 15 > 10cm x 1 in the last dimension, so I only can put 16 bagels in it this way.
   
   
3. If I stack them along the 19 cm side, I have 9 bagels there and 1 bagel on the 15cm side and 3 on the 32 cm side, so that is 9 x 1 x 3 = 27 bagels. This is the best choice.

I guess my bagels are really skinny. Try it with your measurements for your tyres and container.

Stephen La Rocque.