Illumination of Pascal's hexagrammum and octagrammum mysticum (Q2340416): Difference between revisions

It is well-known that to each \(6\)-gon \(h=\{A,B,C,D,E,F\}\) on a conic in \(\text{PG}(3,{\mathbb R})\) there exist \(60\) Pascal lines, \(20\) Steiner points, \(60\) Kirkman points, \(15\) Steiner-Plücker lines, \(20\) Cayley-Salmon lines, and \(15\) Salmon points (cf. [\textit{J. Conway} and \textit{A. Ryba}, Math. Intell. 34, No. 3, 4--8 (2012; Zbl 1262.51003)]). In the complex projective plane, the authors present algebraic generalizations of the aforementioned concepts using a weak form of Bézout's theorem and modifying the notation applied by Conway and Ryba in [loc. cit.] and proposed by \textit{C. Ladd} in [Am. J. Math. 2, 1--12 (1879; JFM 11.0395.01)]. If \(h\) is contained in a conic \(\mathcal C\) and two distinct cubics \({\mathcal D}_1\), \({\mathcal D}_2\), then \({\mathcal D}_1\cap{\mathcal D}_2\setminus h\) consists of three points that lie on the so-called Pascal line for the cubics \({\mathcal D}_1\), \({\mathcal D}_2\) which is denoted by \(l(h;{\mathcal D}_1,{\mathcal D}_2)\). If \(h\) is contained in \(\mathcal C\) and three distinct cubics \({\mathcal D}_1\), \({\mathcal D}_2\), \({\mathcal D}_3\), then \(l(h;{\mathcal D}_1,{\mathcal D}_2)\), \(l(h;{\mathcal D}_2,{\mathcal D}_3)\), and \(l(h;{\mathcal D}_3,{\mathcal D}_1)\) intersect in the same point named Steiner-Kirkman point for the cubics \({\mathcal D}_1\), \({\mathcal D}_2\), \({\mathcal D}_3\). As applications the authors show in addition to the well-known classical results: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] Three classical Kirkman points and a Steiner point are incident with the same Cayley-Salmon line. \item[2.] The \(20\) Cayley-Salmon lines intersect in fours at the \(15\) Salmon points. \end{itemize}} Finally, the authors deal with \(2n\)-gons (\(n\geq\,4\)) inscribed in a conic. The text is accompanied by eleven figures which can be seen a remnants of the empirical computer experiments with the program \texttt{Cinderella}.