I have heard somewhere it is theoretically better because it is much closer to e (2.718... natural logarithm base). Anyone have an explanation that includes that as to why it is better?
That one's good, the cost metric for figure 2 I think is what I had seen.
No, it's better because it's closer to pi (3.14...). The reason for this is that pi can be used to measure the area of a circle and circles are the most divine shape.