What makes a line "straight"?

1.3k Views Asked by At

In Euclidean space, there can be several definitions that makes a straght line:

  1. Line of shortest distance between two points
  2. Line that is linear, i.e with the points satisfying a linear equation
  3. Line of zero curvature everywhere
  4. Line with constant curvature that is equal from both sides

The Wikipedia article states:

In geometry, it is frequently the case that the concept of line is taken as a primitive.

When one enters non-Euclidean geometry, are the above definitions consistent with each other? Definition 1, for example, becomes a geodesic.