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Parabola. Part of a parabola (blue), with various features (other colours). The complete parabola has no endpoints. In this orientation, it extends infinitely to the left, right, and upward. The parabola is a member of the family of conic sections. In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U ...
In mathematics, the eccentricity of a conic section is a non-negative real number that uniquely characterizes its shape. One can think of the eccentricity as a measure of how much a conic section deviates from being circular. In particular: The eccentricity of a circle is 0. The eccentricity of an ellipse which is not a circle is between 0 and 1.
Apollonius of Perga. Apollonius of Perga ( Greek: Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Περγαῖος Apollṓnios ho Pergaîos; c. 240 BC – c. 190 BC) was an ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the earlier contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to ...
Hyperbola. A hyperbola is an open curve with two branches, the intersection of a plane with both halves of a double cone. The plane does not have to be parallel to the axis of the cone; the hyperbola will be symmetrical in any case. Hyperbola (red): features. In mathematics, a hyperbola is a type of smooth curve lying in a plane, defined by its ...
Paraboloid. In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axis of symmetry and no center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar property of symmetry. Every plane section of a paraboloid by a plane parallel to the axis of symmetry is a parabola.
Asymptote. The graph of a function with a horizontal ( y = 0), vertical ( x = 0), and oblique asymptote (purple line, given by y = 2 x ). A curve intersecting an asymptote infinitely many times. In analytic geometry, an asymptote ( / ˈæsɪmptoʊt /) of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as ...
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an -dimensional manifold, or -manifold for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a neighborhood that is homeomorphic to an open subset of -dimensional Euclidean space.
Pole and polar. The polar line q to a point Q with respect to a circle of radius r centered on the point O. The point P is the inversion point of Q; the polar is the line through P that is perpendicular to the line containing O, P and Q. In geometry, a pole and polar are respectively a point and a line that have a unique reciprocal relationship ...