To have the strip at its maximum height the figure looks like the following
Attachment:
GRE circles.png
The circles are connected at the centers thanks to an equilateral triangle
Attachment:
GRE circles (2).png
H is the following
Attachment:
GRE circles (3).png
so the height is \(h=2\sqrt{3}\)
Adding to this the distances on top and at the bottom of the triangle
Attachment:
GRE circles (4).png
we do have \(4+2\sqrt{3}\)
B is the answer
How can you draw the maximum width without knowing the width? The max width cannot be known and thus the maximum number of circles too can’t be known.