Conic sectionA conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, though it was sometimes called as a fourth type. The ancient Greek mathematicians studied conic sections, culminating around 200 BC with Apollonius of Perga's systematic work on their properties. The conic sections in the Euclidean plane have various distinguishing properties, many of which can be used as alternative definitions.
Duality (projective geometry)In geometry, a striking feature of projective planes is the symmetry of the roles played by points and lines in the definitions and theorems, and (plane) duality is the formalization of this concept. There are two approaches to the subject of duality, one through language () and the other a more functional approach through special mappings. These are completely equivalent and either treatment has as its starting point the axiomatic version of the geometries under consideration.
CollinearityIn geometry, collinearity of a set of points is the property of their lying on a single line. A set of points with this property is said to be collinear (sometimes spelled as colinear). In greater generality, the term has been used for aligned objects, that is, things being "in a line" or "in a row". In any geometry, the set of points on a line are said to be collinear. In Euclidean geometry this relation is intuitively visualized by points lying in a row on a "straight line".
Line (geometry)In geometry, a line is an infinitely long object with no width, depth, or curvature. Thus, lines are one-dimensional objects, though they may exist embedded in two, three, or higher dimensional spaces. The word line may also refer to a line segment in everyday life that has two points to denote its ends (endpoints). A line can be referred to by two points that lie on it (e.g. ) or by a single letter (e.g. ).
Desargues's theoremIn projective geometry, Desargues's theorem, named after Girard Desargues, states: Two triangles are in perspective axially if and only if they are in perspective centrally. Denote the three vertices of one triangle by a, b and c, and those of the other by A, B and C. Axial perspectivity means that lines and meet in a point, lines and meet in a second point, and lines and meet in a third point, and that these three points all lie on a common line called the axis of perspectivity.
Dandelin spheresIn geometry, the Dandelin spheres are one or two spheres that are tangent both to a plane and to a cone that intersects the plane. The intersection of the cone and the plane is a conic section, and the point at which either sphere touches the plane is a focus of the conic section, so the Dandelin spheres are also sometimes called focal spheres. The Dandelin spheres were discovered in 1822. They are named in honor of the French mathematician Germinal Pierre Dandelin, though Adolphe Quetelet is sometimes given partial credit as well.
Pappus's hexagon theoremIn mathematics, Pappus's hexagon theorem (attributed to Pappus of Alexandria) states that given one set of collinear points and another set of collinear points then the intersection points of line pairs and and and are collinear, lying on the Pappus line. These three points are the points of intersection of the "opposite" sides of the hexagon . It holds in a projective plane over any field, but fails for projective planes over any noncommutative division ring. Projective planes in which the "theorem" is valid are called pappian planes.
Projective geometryIn mathematics, projective geometry is the study of geometric properties that are invariant with respect to projective transformations. This means that, compared to elementary Euclidean geometry, projective geometry has a different setting, projective space, and a selective set of basic geometric concepts. The basic intuitions are that projective space has more points than Euclidean space, for a given dimension, and that geometric transformations are permitted that transform the extra points (called "points at infinity") to Euclidean points, and vice-versa.
Degenerate conicIn geometry, a degenerate conic is a conic (a second-degree plane curve, defined by a polynomial equation of degree two) that fails to be an irreducible curve. This means that the defining equation is factorable over the complex numbers (or more generally over an algebraically closed field) as the product of two linear polynomials. Using the alternative definition of the conic as the intersection in three-dimensional space of a plane and a double cone, a conic is degenerate if the plane goes through the vertex of the cones.
Extended sideIn plane geometry, an extended side or sideline of a polygon is the line that contains one side of the polygon. The extension of a finite side into an infinite line arises in various contexts. In an obtuse triangle, the altitudes from the acute angled vertices intersect the corresponding extended base sides but not the base sides themselves. The excircles of a triangle, as well as the triangle's inconics that are not inellipses, are externally tangent to one side and to the other two extended sides.
