Homework 3 - Train tracks

1. Suppose there are n lines in the plane.

(a) Whats the maximum number of different points of intersections there can be? Whats the
minimum number of different points of intersections there can be? First try answering this for
small values of n and see if you can get a formula for these numbers in terms of n.

Answer: The minimum number of interceptions is 0, when all the n lines are parallel to each
other. So the maximum number of intersecting points is
1+ 2 +3+ + n = n(n-1)/2.

(b) What has to be true about the lines to get the maximum number? What has to be true about
the lines to get the minimum number?

Answer:In order to have maximum number they all have to be crossing each other but not on
the same point, and also no parallel lines because they will never meet on a point.
To have minimum you need to have them all parallel to get zero intercepting points.

(c) Suppose we start with lines defined by the sides of a regular n-gon (so each side of the n-
gon is a line segment; extending the segment to a full line gives us our n lines). How many
points of intersection do you get in terms of n? Explain why you get a different formula when n is
even versus when n is odd.
Answer: When n is odd, the number of points of intersection is the maximum, n(n-1)/2. If n is
even, there are n/2 pairs of opposite sides, and these are parallel, so the number of points is
n(n-1)/2 - n/2. Which we decided in class.

(d) Wed like to define a new kind of geometry so that we get the same formula whether n is odd
or even. How might this be done? Look at these jpgs:
Railroad tracks
More railroad tracks
How are these related to Raphaels famous Vatican fresco, The school of Athens? (Which figure
represents Euclid? Enlarge photo to have a better view) How do these jpgs suggest an
approach? Here is more:
Railroad tracks
Buildings

Answer: vanishing point is a point which two parallel lines are seem to meet in a far
distance.Two sets of parallel lines which run in different directions have different vanishing
points. So there infinite possible points. I think the compass represents Euclid work, so I'm
guessing it is the person with the compass.
(e) By adding vanishing points to the plane in a way as suggested by these jpgs, we get a
geometry called projective geometry and instead of the Euclidean plane we get the projective
plane, which contains the ordinary Euclidean plane. What can one say about parallel lines in
this new larger geometry? What do we mean when we say that two lines in the plane are
parallel? I.e., what is the definition of lines being parallel? Does this definition work for lines in
space? What happens in the projective plane

(f) Not every triple of lines in the ordinary Euclidean plane determine sides of a triangle; why
not? What about in the projective plane; what kinds of triangles can we get in this new geometry
that we couldnt get before? What kind we say about the sum of the degree measures of the
angles of these new triangles?
Answer: you get a different triangle with the vanishing point, you get a triangle that has more
than 180 degrees.