General Position - Different Geometries

Different Geometries

Different geometries allow different notions of geometric constraints. For example, a circle is a concept that makes sense in Euclidean geometry, but not in affine linear geometry or projective geometry, where circles cannot be distinguished from ellipses, since one may squeeze a circle to an ellipse. Similarly, a parabola is a concept in affine geometry but not in projective geometry, where a parabola is simply a kind of conic. The geometry that is overwhelmingly used in algebraic geometry is projective geometry, with affine geometry finding significant but far lesser use.

Thus, in Euclidean geometry three non-collinear points determine a circle (as the circumcircle of the triangle they define), but four points in general do not (they do so only for cyclic quadrilaterals), so the notion of "general position with respect to circles", namely "no four points lie on a circle" makes sense. In projective geometry, by contrast, circles are not distinct from conics, and five points determine a conic, so there is no projective notion of "general position with respect to circles".