On the number of mutually touching cylinders. Is it 8? (Q2519773): Difference between revisions

Considering the problem: ``What is the maximum number of congruent infinite cylinders that can be arranged in 3-space, so that any two of them are touching?'', several types of arrangements of six and one of seven cylinders are known. W. Kuperberg assembled a nice, symmetrical arrangement of eight pencils, and asked whether the pencils are mutually touching, or not. In this paper the following theorem is proved: Among the eight pencils of the configuration of W. Kuperberg, there are two not sharing a common point. Although the proof is designed for this special construction, it also shows that configurations by `doubling cylinders' cannot work.