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A circle of finite radius has an infinitely distant directrix, while a pair of lines of finite separation have an infinitely distant focus. In mathematics, the eccentricity of a conic section is a non-negative real number that uniquely characterizes its shape.
A circle of finite radius has an infinitely distant directrix, while a pair of lines of finite separation have an infinitely distant focus. Alternatively, one can define a conic section purely in terms of plane geometry: it is the locus of all points P whose distance to a fixed point F (called the focus ) is a constant multiple e (called the ...
The area formula is intuitive: start with a circle of radius (so its area is ) and stretch it by a factor / to make an ellipse. This scales the area by the same factor: π b 2 ( a / b ) = π a b . {\displaystyle \pi b^{2}(a/b)=\pi ab.} [ 18 ] However, using the same approach for the circumference would be fallacious – compare the integrals ...
The directrix is often taken as a plane curve, in a plane not containing the apex, but this is not a requirement. [1] In general, a conical surface consists of two congruent unbounded halves joined by the apex. Each half is called a nappe, and is the union of all the rays that start at the apex and pass through a point of some fixed space curve ...
The ellipse thus generated has its second focus at the center of the directrix circle, and the ellipse lies entirely within the circle. For the parabola, the center of the directrix moves to the point at infinity (see Projective geometry). The directrix "circle" becomes a curve with zero curvature, indistinguishable from a straight line.
More generally, for any collection of points P i, weights w i, and constant C, one can define a circle as the locus of points X such that (,) =.. The director circle of an ellipse is a special case of this more general construction with two points P 1 and P 2 at the foci of the ellipse, weights w 1 = w 2 = 1, and C equal to the square of the major axis of the ellipse.
In an ellipse, the semi-major axis is the geometric mean of the distance from the center to either focus and the distance from the center to either directrix. The semi-minor axis of an ellipse runs from the center of the ellipse (a point halfway between and on the line running between the foci) to the edge of the ellipse. The semi-minor axis is ...
The directrix of a conic section can be found using Dandelin's construction. Each Dandelin sphere intersects the cone at a circle; let both of these circles define their own planes. The intersections of these two parallel planes with the conic section's plane will be two parallel lines; these lines are the directrices of the conic section.