Power of a point P intersects the circle at A and B, the endpoints of the diameter. Their respective products of distances are equal to each other and to the power of point P in that circle This equality is sometimes known as the ""secant-tangent theorem"", ""intersecting chords theorem"", or the ""power-of-a-point theorem"". The power of a point is used in many geometrical definitions and proofs. For example, the radical axis of two given circles is the straight line consisting of points that have equal power to both circles. For each point on this line, there is a unique circle centered on that point
Five points determine a conic Five points determine a conic In Euclidean and projective geometry, just as two (distinct) points determine a line (a degree-1 plane curve), five points determine a conic (a degree-2 plane curve). There are additional subtleties for conics that do not exist for lines, and thus the statement and its proof for conics are both more technical than for lines. Formally, given any five points in the plane in general linear position, meaning no three collinear, there is a unique conic passing through them, which will be non-degenerate; this is true over both the Euclidean plane and any pappian projective plane.