Poncelet Triangles and Tetragons over Finite Fields

Abstract

In the projective plane over a finite field of characteristic not equal to 2, we compute the probability that a randomly selected pair of distinct conics $(\mathscr{A},\mathscr{B})$, with $\mathscr{A}$ smooth or singular and $\mathscr{B}$ smooth, in a fixed pencil of conics will admit a triangle or a tetragon inscribed in $\mathscr{A}$ and circumscribed about $\mathscr{B}$. We do this for all pencils, classified up to projective automorphism, with at least one smooth conic; effectively allowing the case where our conic pairs intersect non-transversally.