Quite naturally, the first question that arises is what we exactly mean by "transversal of lines". Well, imagine a set of line segments in the plane which may possibly intersect. Given this set, determine a line (called a transversal, or a stabbing line) which intersects each segment in the set.

In figure 1, {A, B, C} is a set of line segments, where B and C intersect. L is a line which intersects each segment in the set, therefore L is a stabbing line of the set.

Why "shortest transversal"? This is the second question one would naturally ask. Besides exploring the problem just described, in the framework of this project we'll also present an algorithm which not only finds a stabbing line, but also minimizes its length, that is determines the shortest transversal.