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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.
The line perpendicular to the directrix and passing through the focus (that is, the line that splits the parabola through the middle) is called the "axis of symmetry". The point where the parabola intersects its axis of symmetry is called the "vertex" and is the point where the parabola is most sharply curved. The distance between the vertex ...
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.
The minor axis is the shortest diameter of an ellipse, and its half-length is the semi-minor axis (b), the same value b as in the standard equation below. By analogy, for a hyperbola the parameter b in the standard equation is also called the semi-minor axis. The following relations hold: [6] = =
Alternative equations: 1) In the defining equation of a coaxal system of circles there can be used multiples of the power functions, too. 2) The equation of one of the circles can be replaced by the equation of the desired radical axis. The radical axis can be seen as a circle with an infinitely large radius. For example:
An ellipse (red) obtained as the intersection of a cone with an inclined plane. Ellipse: notations Ellipses: examples with increasing eccentricity. In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant.
(1) All rulings are parallel to a plane, the directrix plane. (2) All rulings intersect a fixed line, the axis. The conoid is a right conoid if its axis is perpendicular to its directrix plane. Hence all rulings are perpendicular to the axis. Because of (1) any conoid is a Catalan surface and can be represented parametrically by
A cone can be generated by moving a line (the generatrix) fixed at the future apex of the cone along a closed curve (the directrix); if that directrix is a circle perpendicular to the line connecting its center to the apex, the motion is rotation around a fixed axis and the resulting shape is a circular cone. [3]