Note on Discovering Doily in PG(2,5)

Abstract

W. L. Edge proved that the internal points of a conic in PG(2,5), together with the collinear triples on the non-secant lines, form the Desargues configuration. M. Saniga showed an intimate connection between Desargues configurations and the generalized quadrangles of order 2, GQ(2,2), whose representation was dubbed “the doily” by Stan Payne in 1973. In this note, we prove that the external points of a conic in PG(2,5), together with the collinear and non-collinear triples on the non-tangent lines, form the generalized quadrangle of order 2.