Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
This case always occurs as a degenerate conic in a pencil of circles. However, in other contexts it is not considered as a degenerate conic, as its equation is not of degree 2. The case of coincident lines occurs if and only if the rank of the 3×3 matrix is 1; in all other degenerate cases its rank is 2. [3]: p.108
If a set of points is not in general linear position, it is called a degenerate case or degenerate configuration, which implies that they satisfy a linear relation that need not always hold. A fundamental application is that, in the plane, five points determine a conic, as long as the points are in general linear position (no three are collinear).
If the conic is a circle, then another degenerate case says that for a triangle, the three points that appear as the intersection of a side line with the corresponding side line of the Gergonne triangle, are collinear. Six is the minimum number of points on a conic about which special statements can be made, as five points determine a conic.
In Euclidean and projective geometry, five points determine a conic (a degree-2 plane curve), just as two (distinct) points determine a line (a degree-1 plane curve).There are additional subtleties for conics that do not exist for lines, and thus the statement and its proof for conics are both more technical than for lines.
A degenerate case thus has special features which makes it non-generic, or a special case. However, not all non-generic or special cases are degenerate. For example, right triangles, isosceles triangles and equilateral triangles are non-generic and non-degenerate. In fact, degenerate cases often correspond to singularities, either in the object ...
If the conic is non-degenerate, the conjugates of a point always form a line and the polarity defined by the conic is a bijection between the points and lines of the extended plane containing the conic (that is, the plane together with the points and line at infinity). If the point p lies on the conic Q, the polar line of p is the tangent line ...
Likewise, a non-degenerate conic (polynomial equation in x and y with the sum of their powers in any term not exceeding 2, hence with degree 2) is uniquely determined by 5 points in general position (no three of which are on a straight line). The intuition of the conic case is this: Suppose the given points fall on, specifically, an ellipse.
G1: Every line contains at least 3 points; G2: Every two distinct points, A and B, lie on a unique line, AB. G3: If lines AB and CD intersect, then so do lines AC and BD (where it is assumed that A and D are distinct from B and C). The reason each line is assumed to contain at least 3 points is to eliminate some degenerate cases.