In geometry, a real projective line is a projective line over the real numbers. It is an extension of the usual concept of a line that has been historically introduced to solve a problem set by visual perspective: two parallel lines do not intersect but seem to intersect "at infinity". For solving this problem, points at infinity have been introduced, in such a way that in a real projective plane, two distinct projective lines meet in exactly one point. The set of these points at infinity, the "horizon" of the visual perspective in the plane, is a real projective line. It is the set of directions emanating from an observer situated at any point, with opposite directions identified.
An example of a real projective line is the projectively extended real line, which is often called the projective line.