Past exam of the short options course of the University of Oxford / 2017 / 3 / a / ii

For representatives $p=(a,b,c)$ and $p^{\prime }=(a^{\prime },b^{\prime },c^{\prime })$, a point $[x:y:z]$ belongs to their projective line exactly when these three vectors are linearly dependent. The determinant criterion givesExpanding along the first row givesThe coefficient vector is the cross product $p\times p^{\prime }$. It is nonzero because the projective points are distinct. Rescaling either representative merely rescales all three coefficients, leaving the projective line unchanged. This is the join formula in projective joins and meets by cross products.