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Conic sections visualized with torch light This diagram clarifies the different angles of the cutting planes that result in the different properties of the three types of conic section. A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane.
In mathematics, the matrix representation of conic sections permits the tools of linear algebra to be used in the study of conic sections. It provides easy ways to calculate a conic section's axis , vertices , tangents and the pole and polar relationship between points and lines of the plane determined by the conic.
In geometry, the conic constant (or Schwarzschild constant, [1] after Karl Schwarzschild) is a quantity describing conic sections, and is represented by the letter K. The constant is given by K = − e 2 , {\displaystyle K=-e^{2},} where e is the eccentricity of the conic section.
More generally, when the directrix is an ellipse, or any conic section, and the apex is an arbitrary point not on the plane of , one obtains an elliptic cone [4] (also called a conical quadric or quadratic cone), [5] which is a special case of a quadric surface. [4] [5]
Media in category "Conic sections" This category contains only the following file. Drawing an ellipse via two tacks a loop and a pen 2.jpg 480 × 640; 24 KB
In geometry, two conic sections are called confocal if they have the same foci. Because ellipses and hyperbolas have two foci, there are confocal ellipses, confocal hyperbolas and confocal mixtures of ellipses and hyperbolas. In the mixture of confocal ellipses and hyperbolas, any ellipse intersects any hyperbola orthogonally (at right angles).
From the fact, that the affine image of a conic section is a conic section of the same type (ellipse, parabola,...), one gets: Any plane section of an elliptic cone is a conic section. Obviously, any right circular cone contains circles. This is also true, but less obvious, in the general case (see circular section).
In Euclidean and projective geometry, five points determine a conic (a degree-2 plane curve), just as two (distinct) points determine a line (a degree-1 plane curve).There are additional subtleties for conics that do not exist for lines, and thus the statement and its proof for conics are both more technical than for lines.