Secant line point a "tangent line" and in no points an "exterior line". A "chord" of a circle is the line segment that joins two distinct points of the circle. A chord is therefore contained in a unique secant line and each secant line determines a unique chord. In rigorous modern treatments of plane geometry, results that seem obvious and were assumed (without statement) by Euclid in his treatment, are usually proved. For instance, "Theorem (Elementary Circular Continuity)": If formula_1 is a circle and formula_2 a line that contains a point that is inside formula_1 and a point that is outside of
Five points determine a conic precisely, this is seen as follows: The two subtleties in the above analysis are that the resulting point is a quadratic equation (not a linear equation), and that the constraints are independent. The first is simple: if "A", "B", and "C" all vanish, then the equation formula_5 defines a line, and any 3 points on this (indeed any number of points) lie on a line – thus general linear position ensures a conic. The second, that the constraints are independent, is significantly subtler: it corresponds to the fact that given five points in general linear position in the plane, their