Collineations of an affine geometry

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In summary, a collineation in affine geometry is a bijection that carries lines to lines. However, it does not necessarily imply that points not lying on the same line will also not be carried to points not on the same line. This can only be assumed if the inverse function is also a collineation.
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samkolb
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An affine geometry is a nonempty set of points A, together with a set of lines, where each line connects one or more of the points in A.

A collineation of A is a bijection f: A --> A that carries lines to lines. That is, if P,Q are points in A lying on the same line, then f(P), f(Q) are points in A lying on the same line.

My question:

Does this definition imply that each pair of points not lying on the same line is carried to a pair of points not on the same line? That is, if P, Q do not lie on the same line, then do f(P) and f(Q) also not lie on the same line?
 
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No, this does not follow. The condition says nothing about points which are not collinear. But, and this is somehow missing in the definition of a collineation, what about ##f^{-1}##. You would expect from a collineation as a bijection, that the inverse function is also a collineation. This should have been stated.

So if we assume, that ##f^{-1}## is a collineation, too, then the situation is a different one:
If ##f(P)## and ##f(Q)## are collinear, then ##f^{-1}(f(P))=P## and ##f^{-1}(f(Q))=Q## are collinear because ##f^{-1}## is a collineation. This is equivalent to: If ##P## and ##Q## are not collinear, then ##f(P)## and ##f(Q)## can't be collinear.

Hence we need that ##f^{-1}## is a collineation. This should either be part of the definition, or a theorem proven by other means, will say other axioms.
 

1. What is a collineation?

A collineation is a transformation that preserves the notion of collinearity in an affine geometry. This means that if three points are collinear (lie on the same line), their images after the transformation will also be collinear.

2. How does a collineation differ from an isometry?

A collineation only preserves the notion of collinearity, while an isometry preserves both distance and collinearity. In other words, an isometry is a more restrictive type of transformation.

3. Can a collineation be represented by a matrix?

Yes, a collineation in a 2-dimensional affine geometry can be represented by a 3x3 matrix in homogeneous coordinates. This matrix is known as a collineation matrix and it encodes the linear and translation components of the transformation.

4. How many types of collineations are there?

There are two main types of collineations: direct and inverse. Direct collineations preserve the orientation of the geometry, while inverse collineations reverse the orientation. In 2-dimensional affine geometry, there are also special types of collineations such as translations, rotations, and reflections.

5. What is the importance of collineations in affine geometry?

Collineations play a crucial role in affine geometry as they allow us to define and study the properties of affine transformations. They also help us to understand the structure of affine spaces and their symmetries. Additionally, collineations have practical applications in computer graphics, robotics, and other fields where transformations are used to manipulate objects.

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