In projective geometry, Desargues' theorem, named in honor of Girard Desargues, states: In a historical perspective on mathematics, the field of geometry that developed in the first half of the nineteenth century under the name projective geometry was a stepping stone from analytic geometry to algebraic geometry. ... Girard Desargues (1591 - 1661) was a French mathematician and one of the founders of projective geometry. ...

In a projective space, two triangles are in perspective axially if and only if they are in perspective centrally.

To understand this, denote the three vertices of one triangle by (lower-case) a, b, and c, and those of the other by (capital) A, B, and C. Axial perspectivity is the condition satisfied iff the point of intersection of ab with AB, and that of intersection of ac with AC, and that of intersection of bc with BC, are collinear, on a line called the axis of perspectivity. Central perspectivity is the condition satisfied iff the three lines Aa, Bb, and Cc are concurrent, at a point called the center of perspectivity. In mathematics, a projective space is a fundamental construction from any vector space. ... For alternate meanings, such as the musical instrument, see triangle (disambiguation). ... In mathematics, philosophy, logic and technical fields that depend on them, iff is used as an abbreviation for if and only if. It is often, not always, written italicized: iff. ...

Projective versus affine spaces

In an affine space nothing similar is true unless one lists various exceptions involving accidentally parallel lines. Desargues' theorem is therefore one of the most basic of simple and intuitive geometric theorems whose natural home is in projective rather than affine space. In mathematics, an affine space is an abstract structure that generalises the affine-geometric properties of Euclidean space. ...

Self-duality

By definition, two triangles are perspective iff they are in perspective axially (or, equivalently according to this theorem, in perspective centrally). Note that perspective triangles need not be similar. Several equivalence relations in mathematics are called similarity. ...

Under the standard duality of plane projective geometry (where points correspond to lines and collinearity of points corresponds to concurrency of lines), the statement of Desargues's theorem is self-dual: axial perspectivity is translated into central perspectivity and vice versa. Duality in the projective plane refers to the interchangeability between points and lines which preserves incidence properties. ...

The Desargues configuration

The ten lines involved (six sides of triangles, the three lines Aa, Bb, and Cc, and the axis of perspectivity) and the ten points involved (the six vertices, the three points of intersection on the axis of perspectivity, and the center of perspectivity) are so arranged that each of the ten lines passes through three of the ten points, and each of the ten points lies on three of the ten lines. Those ten points and ten lines make up the Desargues configuration. (It is an amusing exercise to show that those incidence conditions can also be satisfied by a configuration of ten points and ten lines that is not incidence-isomorphic to the Desargues configuration.) The statement of the theorem above may misleadingly connote that the Desargues configuration has less symmetry than it really has: Any of the ten points may be chosen to be the center of perspectivity, and that choice determines which six points will be the vertices of triangles and which line will be the axis of perspectivity. Symmetry is a characteristic of geometrical shapes, equations, and other objects; we say that such an object is symmetric with respect to a given operation if this operation, when applied to the object, does not appear to change it. ...

Proof of Desargues' theorem

The truth of Desargues' theorem in the plane is most readily deduced by getting it as a corollary to its truth in a 3-dimensional space rather than the 2-dimensional plane. Two triangles cannot be in perspective unless they fit into a space of dimension 3 or less; thus in higher dimensions the affine span of the two triangles is always a subspace of dimension no higher than 3.

Desargues' theorem can be stated as follows:

If A.a, B.b, C.c are concurrent, then

(A.B)∩(a.b), (A.C)∩(a.c), (B.C)∩(b.c) are collinear.

In purely symbolic terms, using the cross product and the dot product, Desargues' theorem can be stated like so: If In mathematics, the cross product is a binary operation on vectors in three dimensions. ... In mathematics, the dot product (also known as the scalar product and the inner product) is a sesquilinear function (·) : V × V → F, where V is a vector space over the field F, having some further properties. ...

then

Letting <X, Y, Z> denote the scalar triple product, Desargues' theorem can be stated thus: If In vector calculus, there are two ways of multiplying three vectors together, to make a triple product. ...

then

First restatement

Knowing that a vector triple product

is equal to

one can derive the formula

From this last formula, one can futher derive the identity

Through application of this identity, Desargues' theorem can be restated as follows:
If

then

Second restatement

Applying the identity again to the consequent of the first restatement of Desargues' theorem, commuting triple products, and cyclically permuting the vectors of each triple product, one obtains this second restatement:
If

then

Notice that the left side of the consequent can be obtained from the left side of the antecedent through the substitutions A→C, B→A, C→B. Also, the right side of the consequent can be obtained from the right side of the antecedent throught the substitutions a→c, b→a, c→b.

Third restatement

A theorem of vector calculus states that the product of two scalar triple products is equal to a determinant of a matrix whose elements are dot products determined by the rule Vector calculus is a field of mathematics concerned with multivariate real analysis of vectors in 2 or more dimensions. ...

Applying this theorem to the second restatement yields this third one:
If

then

Fourth restatement

Expanding the determinants of the third restatement yields this fourth one:
If

then

Fifth restatement

The first and fifth terms of each side of both equations (antecedent and consequent) of the fourth restatement end up being cancelled out, yielding this fifth restatement:
If

then

Sixth restatement

Between the two equations of the fifth restatement there are eight different terms: each one showing up twice. Let the terms be relabeled as follows:

Then the fifth restatement becomes the following:
If

t₁ + t₂ − t₃ − t₄ = t₅ + t₆ − t₇ − t₈

then

t₆ + t₄ − t₇ − t₁ = t₂ + t₈ − t₃ − t₅.

Seventh restatement

Move the terms on the right side of the antecedent's equation of the sixth restatement to the left side, and the terms on the left side of the consequent's equation to the right side. The result is:
If

t₁ + t₂ − t₃ − t₄ − t₅ − t₆ + t₇ + t₈ = 0

then

0 = t₁ + t₂ − t₃ − t₄ − t₅ − t₆ + t₇ + t₈.

The consequent is now seen to be identical to the antecedent, so that Desargues' theorem is seen to be true. Q.E.D. For other meanings of the abbreviation QED, see QED. Q. E. D. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase quod erat demonstrandum (literally, that which was to be demonstrated). This is a translation of the Greek oper edei deixai which was used by many early mathematicians including Euclid and Archimedes. ...

External links

• Monge & d'Alembert Three Circles Theorem I - Dynamic Geometry (http://agutie.homestead.com/files/JavaCaR/Monge_1.htm) by Antonio Gutierrez from Geometry Step by Step from the Land of the Incas.
• Monge & d'Alembert Three Circles Theorem II - Dynamic Geometry (http://agutie.homestead.com/files/JavaCaR/Monge_2.htm) by Antonio Gutierrez from Geometry Step by Step from the Land of the Incas.
• Desargues' Theorem (http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/Desargues.shtml)
• Monge via Desargues (http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/MongeTheorem.shtml)
• Monge via Desargues II (http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/MongeDesargues.shtml)