Talk:Projective line

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[edit] Topological circle

"Topologically, it is again a circle." Is the real projective line not also a circle in terms of differentiable manifolds? 145.97.196.54 17:42, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Well, yes, that follows. Charles Matthews 17:58, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Saying something is diffeomorphically a circle is certainly stronger than saying it is topologically so. linas 00:00, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Really. So how many smooth structures does the circle as topological manifold carry, then? (The answer is one and only one.) Don't confuse this with the gap between continuous and smooth mappings, which is a different point. Charles Matthews 08:16, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm not arguing with you. I was just trying to imagine what the anonymous poster was objecting to/asking about. (I certainly walk around with a mindset so that whenever I read the word "topological", I assume the author implied "not smooth" as a corollary, unless stated otherwise. (This is a habit from reading about ergodicity/chaos theory). Perhaps this is what anon was thinking too.) linas 01:35, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

AIUI the projective line is NOT a topological circle: a circle is a metric object (distinct from, say, an ellipse) embedded in a metric plane, and it has a identifiable sides - inside and outside. A projective line need have no metric but, more importantly, even in the projective plane it has only one side. I would call it a topological loop (1-manifold) but not a circle. Or do topologists differ from other geometers in the sense that they give to the word "circle"? -- Cheers, Steelpillow 07:09, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The real projective line

A few days a go I made some changes which Mct mht reverted. Following a discussion here, I propose to reinstate the majority of my changes (with some minor correction), but would appreciate some third party consensus before risking an edit war.-- Cheers, Steelpillow 09:42, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

• The section on the real projective line states, "It is given by projecting points in R² onto the unit circle and then identifying diametrically opposite points." This should more correctly begin with something like; "A (metrically) finite visualisation is obtained by ...", although I am not sure if "visualisation" is the correct word here. -- Cheers, Steelpillow 09:42, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

• The same section also states, "One may also think of gluing the two "ends" of the real line onto a new point ∞ resulting in a circle." And in the introduction to the article, we find; "The projective line may also be thought of as the line K together with an idealised point at infinity" This last statement is true of the real projective line, but in general projective geometry has no metric and hence no concept of infinity. I would suggest that it be moved down to the section on the Real projective line, and the two statements be merged near the start of the section, something along the lines of; "It may be thought of as the real line K together with an idealised point at infinity, which connects to both ends of K creating a closed loop or topological circle." -- Cheers, Steelpillow 09:42, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

i was asked to respond in a edit summary. so i'll do it once. your comments are amateurish/crankish, both on my talk page and here. the edit you made was a minor one. it amounts to inserting the phrase "A (metrically) finite visualisation...", which, in this context, is garbage. Mct mht (talk) 23:14, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply Mct mht, and for your high opinion of my abilities (actually you are right about the amateur bit, though I have apparently studied synthetic geometry in greater depth than some professionals; you might like to compare my comments with the approach taken in the main projective geometry article). At your suggestion I discussed my edit here with the main contributor. I take the point about "metrically". But there is also an issue of NPOV to be considered, however distasteful this might be to anyone personally. For this reason I will reinstate the bulk of my edit, but will delete the "metrical" reference. As for the "visualisation" aspect, I have always been unsure if this was the right word (see above) but nobody has suggested anything better - I might try "example" until someone does. I would hope that in future if anybody is still unhappy with my edit they would correct the bit they are unhappy with, rather than revert the good along with the bad - especially if the alternative POV is unfamiliar to them. I am not a very experienced editor, but I have tried to follow Wikiquette; if I have failed to then I must apologise. But, as they say, there is only one way to gain experience. -- Cheers, Steelpillow 10:29, 7 June 2008 (UTC)