Desargues's theorem 2026-10-31
For two projective triangles in a projective plane over a field, perspectivity from a point implies perspectivity from a line. The usual nondegenerate form assumes that the corresponding-side intersections are well defined and distinct. Its dual is the converse, by point-line duality. The result holds in the real projective plane; it is not an axiom valid in every abstract incidence plane.
One linear algebra proof explains the collinearity. Choose a representative of the center. Rescale the paired representatives to , , and , with nonzero coefficients in a nondegenerate configuration whose vertices differ from the center. The first corresponding-side intersection is represented by . Similarly choose and . Then , so the three representatives are linearly dependent. Their projective points are consequently collinear.
Two projective triangles are in perspectivity from a point when their three corresponding-vertex projective lines , , and all pass through .
Desargues's theorem: perspectivity from a point implies perspectivity from a line. More explicitly, if are concurrent, then the three corresponding-side intersections
are collinear. The usual statement assumes nondegenerate projective triangles and well-defined, distinct corresponding-side intersections. The projective line containing is the axis of perspectivity from a line. All intersections are projective: parallel lines in an affine chart meet on its projective line at infinity.
The dual projective space is . A projective line with coefficients becomes a projective point in this dual plane; a projective point becomes the dual projective line .
The point-line duality reverses incidence:
Thus the dual statement is that the dual point lies on the dual line . A join of projective points becomes an intersection of dual projective lines, and the converse holds too. In particular, collinear projective points correspond to concurrent dual projective lines.
The dual of Desargues's theorem is its converse: if the intersections of the three pairs of corresponding sides are collinear, then the three lines joining corresponding vertices are concurrent. In the same nondegenerate setting, perspectivity from a line therefore implies perspectivity from a point.