How does Desarguesâs theorem relate two triangles viewed from one point?
The sight lines drawn from the image in the reality plane (RP) to the artist's eye intersect the picture plane (PP) to form a projective, or perspective, drawing. The horizontal line drawn parallel to PP corresponds to the horizon. Early perspective experimenters sometimes used translucent paper or glass for the picture plane, which they drew on while looking through a small hole to keep their focus steady.
Desarguesâs theorem establishes a fundamental relationship between two triangles, and , that are in perspective from a point.
When these triangles are situated such that the lines connecting their corresponding verticesâ, , and âall intersect at a single point, the theorem states that the points of intersection of their corresponding sides are collinear; that is, they all lie on a single line.1
In the context of projective geometry, this theorem is significant because it describes a property based purely on the incidence of points and lines, independent of distance or angle measurements. While the theorem originally required a modification to account for parallel sides, the development of projective spaceâby adding points at infinity to Euclidean spaceâallowed the theorem to be formulated consistently, as parallel lines are considered to intersect at a common point at infinity.1