Sylvester’s theorem
For every finite collection of non-collinear points in Euclidean space, there is a line that passes through exactly two of them.
Proof.
Consider all lines passing through two or more points in the collection.Since not all points lie on the same line, among pairs of points and lines that are non-incident we can find a point and a line such that the distance between them is minimal
. Suppose the line contained more than two points. Then at least two of them, say and , would lie on the same side of the perpendicular
from to . But then either or would be smaller than the distance which contradicts the minimality of .∎