Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The length of the chord through one of the foci, perpendicular to the major axis of the hyperbola, is called the latus rectum. One half of it is the semi-latus rectum. A calculation shows =. The semi-latus rectum may also be viewed as the radius of curvature at the vertices.
The semi-minor axis (minor semiaxis) of an ellipse or hyperbola is a line segment that is at right angles with the semi-major axis and has one end at the center of the conic section. For the special case of a circle, the lengths of the semi-axes are both equal to the radius of the circle.
where e is the eccentricity and l is the semi-latus rectum. As above, for e = 0, the graph is a circle, for 0 < e < 1 the graph is an ellipse, for e = 1 a parabola, and for e > 1 a hyperbola. The polar form of the equation of a conic is often used in dynamics; for instance, determining the orbits of objects revolving about the Sun. [20]
The limit of hyperbolas as the foci are brought together is degenerate: a pair of intersecting lines. If an orthogonal net of ellipses and hyperbolas is transformed by bringing the two foci together, the result is thus an orthogonal net of concentric circles and lines passing through the circle center.
The eccentricity is directly related to the angle between the asymptotes. With eccentricity just over 1 the hyperbola is a sharp "v" shape. At = the asymptotes are at right angles. With > the asymptotes are more than 120° apart, and the periapsis distance is greater than the semi major axis. As eccentricity increases further the motion ...
The latus rectum is defined similarly for the other two conics – the ellipse and the hyperbola. The latus rectum is the line drawn through a focus of a conic section parallel to the directrix and terminated both ways by the curve. For any case, is the radius of the osculating circle at the vertex. For a parabola, the semi-latus rectum, , is ...
A family of conic sections of varying eccentricity share a focus point and directrix line, including an ellipse (red, e = 1/2), a parabola (green, e = 1), and a hyperbola (blue, e = 2). The conic of eccentricity 0 in this figure is an infinitesimal circle centered at the focus, and the conic of eccentricity ∞ is an infinitesimally separated ...
The Gudermannian function gives a direct relationship between the circular functions and the hyperbolic functions that does not involve complex numbers. The graph of the function a cosh( x / a ) is the catenary , the curve formed by a uniform flexible chain, hanging freely between two fixed points under uniform gravity.