section 1 The Remarkable Wine-Rack Property ‘This fascinating discovery is the subject of problem 44 in the exciting col- lection of elementary problems “Which Way Did The Bicycle Go?” by Joe Konhauser, Dan Velleman, and Stan Wagon (MAA Doleiani Series, Vol. 18, 1996), ‘Across the horizontal bottom of rectangular wine rack PORS there is oom, for more than three bottles (A, B, C) but not enough for a fourth bottle (Fig- ure 1). All the bottles that are put into this rack are the same size. Naturally, bottles A and C are laid against the sides of the rack and a second layer, con- sisting of just evo bottles (D, E), holds B in place somewhere between A and C. Now we can lay in a third row of three bottles (F, G, H), with F and H resting against the sides of the rack. Then a fourth layer is held to just two bottles (/, J). P s ~(*) | rm Ua - Ale : te be e R : ricurE 1 Now, if the bottles are not evenly spaced in the bottom row, the second, third, and fourth rows can slope considerably, tilting at different angles for differ- ent spacings. Prove, however, that, whatever the spacing in the bottom row,2 Mathematical Diamonds the fifth row is always perfectly horizontal! figure 2 Proof: In Figure 3, KF is vertical, and so we need to show that LFKL = 90°. Ficure 3 Clearly, the distance between the centers of touching bottles is just the diameter ofa bottle. Thus / is equidistant from F, K and L, making I the cit cumcenter of AFKL. Now, if J were to lie on FL, then FL would be a diameter of the circumeircle of AFKL, making LFKL the desired right angle. Thus it remains only to show that I Ties on FL.‘The Remarkable Wine-Rack Property 3 At the opposite part of the figure, we know that ABCH is right-angled at C and that E is its circumcenter, and so E is the midpoint of BH. Now, clearly the four quadrilaterals around G are chombuses, and hence parallelograms, making opposite sides u, v, and w parallel, Similarly, opposite sides x, y, and z are parallel, Therefore w and x, i. e., F/ and L, both lie in the direction of BEH, making them parts ofthe same straight line, and we are done already. Similarly LLMH is a right angle and the desired conclusion follows. ‘This property was discovered by Charles Payan of the Laboratoire de Structures Déscretes et Didactique in France, one of the creators of the re~ markable drawing package CABRI, while experimenting with this program. ‘The solution is due to Hung Dinh.