Laguerre formula explained

The Laguerre formula (named after Edmond Laguerre) provides the acute angle

\phi

between two proper real lines,[1] [2] as follows:
\phi=|1
2i

\operatorname{Log}\operatorname{Cr}(I1,I2,P1,P2)|

where:

\operatorname{Log}

is the principal value of the complex logarithm

\operatorname{Cr}

is the cross-ratio of four collinear points

P1

and

P2

are the points at infinity of the lines

I1

and

I2

are the intersections of the absolute conic, having equations

x0=x

2=0
3
, with the line joining

P1

and

P2

.

The expression between vertical bars is a real number.

Laguerre formula can be useful in computer vision, since the absolute conic has an image on the retinal plane which is invariant under camera displacements, and the cross ratio of four collinear points is the same for their images on the retinal plane.

Derivation

It may be assumed that the lines go through the origin. Any isometry leaves the absolute conic invariant, this allows to take as the first line the x axis and the second line lying in the plane z=0. The homogeneous coordinates of the above four points are

(0,1,i,0),(0,1,-i,0),(0,1,0,0),(0,\cos\phi,\pm\sin\phi,0),

respectively. Their nonhomogeneous coordinates on the infinity line of the plane z=0 are

i

,

-i

, 0,

\pm\sin\phi/\cos\phi

. (Exchanging

I1

and

I2

changes the cross ratio into its inverse, so the formula for

\phi

gives the same result.) Now from the formula of the cross ratio we have

\operatorname{Cr}(I1,I2,P1,P

2)=--i\cos\phi\pm\sin\phi
i\cos\phi\pm\sin\phi

=e\pm.

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Richter-Gebert, Jürgen. Perspectives on Projective Geometry: A Guided Tour Through Real and Complex Geometry. 18 September 2014. 2011-02-04. Springer Science & Business Media. 9783642172861. 342–.
  2. Book: Fisher. Robert B.. Breckon. Toby P.. Dawson-Howe. Kenneth . Andrew Fitzgibbon . Craig Robertson . Emanuele Trucco . Christopher K. I. Williams. Dictionary of Computer Vision and Image Processing. 18 September 2014. 2013-11-08. Wiley. 9781118706800. 148–.