Normal (geometry) Normal (geometry) In geometry, a normal is an object such as a line or vector that is perpendicular to a given object. For example, in two dimensions, the normal line to a curve at a given point is the line perpendicular to the tangent line to the curve at the point. In three dimensions, a surface normal, or simply normal, to a surface at a point "P" is a vector that is perpendicular to the tangent plane to that surface at "P". The word "normal" is also used as an adjective: a line normal to a plane, the normal component
Generalised circle Generalised circle A generalized circle, also referred to as a "cline" or "circline", is a straight line or a circle. The concept is mainly used in inversive geometry, because straight lines and circles have very similar properties in that geometry and are best treated together. Inversive plane geometry is formulated on the plane extended by one point at infinity. A straight line is then thought of as one of the circles that passes through the asymptotic point at infinity. The fundamental transformations in inversive geometry, the "inversions", have the property that they map generalized circles to generalized circles. Möbius transformations,