On the equivalence of Playfair's axiom to the parallel postulate (Q2329377): Difference between revisions

The authors show that the failure of the side-angle-side (SAS) condition for triangle congruence has profound consequences for Euclid's parallel postulate which has many equivalents. Most notable is Playfair's axiom: given a line and a point not on it, at most one line parallel to the given line can be drawn through the point. The main result of this paper is the following: in absence of the SAS condition, Euclid's parallel postulate is not equivalent to Playfair's axiom. In other words: there exists a non-SAS geometry that models the Playfair axiom but not the parallel postulate. In the article, this geometry is effectively constructed.