Curve implicitization using moving lines (Q5906684)

In the first part of the paper, the authors develop an easy algorithm for working with pencils of lines and points in the plane (interpreting homogeneous coordinates in the plane as nonhomogeneous coordinates in space, one finds formulas that go back to Hamilton). In the second part, they use the formalism to study the generation of an arbitrary rational curve as intersection of two line pencils. Let \({P}\) and \({Q}\) be two fixed points on \({F}(t)\), then the point \({F}(t)\) is the intersection of the lines \({P}{F}(t)\) and \({Q}{F}(t)\). By computing the resultant of the two equations, any rational curve is given by an implicit equation between the point coordinates \(x\), \(y\). \{To understand the geometry of control lines introduced by the authors, one has to study curves of fixed class, not order. See, in particular, \textit{J. C. F. Haase} [Math. Ann. 2, 515-548 (1870); \textit{A. Brill} [Math. Ann. 36, 231-238 (1890)]\}.